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I'm just beginning linear algebra at university and have a teacher who moves very fast and has pre-done slides so i can't actually see the problem worked out, he just talks it out. On top of this, he's also from China and heavily accented, making him hard to understand.

Anyway, i have an augmented matrix, and i want the values of $h$ that make it consistent:

$$\left[\begin{array}{cc|c} 1 & h & -5 \\ 2 & -8 & 6 \\ \end{array}\right]$$

and quite frankly, i'm not sure just how to start. I tried eliminating the 1 in the second row, but that made the second line $[0\;\;\; h+4\;\; -8]$ and i'm not even sure if that's the right direction or even allowed.

Thanks in advance.

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    Is it clear to you what "consistent" means, or even what we mean by an "augmented matrix"?2012-08-26
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    I don't see the relevance of the ethnicity of your professor. I would wager he spends time to create those slides so that you read them.2012-08-26
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    I don't see the relevance of looking so much into it, I was just stating that I felt behind because he was from another country and heavily accented and I was having a hard time keeping up. The only difference was that I off-handedly mentioned where he was from.2012-09-11
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    Get used to moving fast. It's just the way things are. At the level of mathematics that you are in, they expect you to keep up or get out. I've had many instructors with foreign accents. The trick is to study in such a way that you already know what they are talking about. It makes a huge difference. Since you don't know what 'consistent' means, my guess is you don't know your way around a text book. Your instructor isn't your problem. You might also want to ask your instructor if you can get copies of his notes after the lecture.2016-09-21

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