linsolve in maxima no work for these equations

Question

I am very novice in maxima. I want to get the solution for W using these equations:

e1: A*W + B*Y = I$
e2: C*W + D*Y = 0$
linsolve ([e1, e2], [W]);

But linsolve just generates [].

The example in the manual works:

(%i1) e1: x + z = y$
(%i2) e2: 2*a*x - y = 2*a^2$
(%i3) e3: y - 2*z = 2$
(%i4) linsolve ([e1, e2, e3], [x, y, z]);
(%o4)            [x = a + 1, y = 2 a, z = a - 1]

Answer 1

That means that the equation cannot be solved for the variables that you requested. You have to solve in respect to both variables:

linsolve([e1,e2],[W,Y]);
                        D I            C I
              [W = - ---------, Y = ---------]
                     B C - A D      B C - A D

You can solve for W for each of your equations separately. For example:

linsolve ([e1],[W]);
                             B Y - I
                      [W = - -------]
                                A