<s>[INST] Calculating the value of $\frac{a-d}{b-c}$ If $\frac{a-b}{c-d}=2$ and $\frac{a-c}{b-d} = 3$ then determine the value of: 
$$\frac{a-d}{b-c}$$
Where $a,b,c,d$ are real numbers.
Can someone please help me with this and give me a hint? I tried substitutions and solving them simultaneously but I couldn't determine this value. Please help.
 [/INST] This might not be the most mathletic solution, but here it is anyway.
Note that for the given information to make sense, we must have $c\neq d$ and $b\neq d$. From these two observations, we also see that $b\neq c$ since otherwise the two given equations are equal, i.e., $2=3$ which is nonsense. Let $k=\frac{a-d}{b-c}$.
So we can then form a system of three equations in four unknowns: $$a-b-2c+2d=0, \\ a-3b-c+3d=0,\\ a-kb+kc-d=0.$$
So the values of $a,b,c,d$ lie in the nullspace of the matrix $$\begin{bmatrix} 1 & -1 & -2 & 2\\ 1 & -3 & -1 & 3\\1 & -k & k & -1\end{bmatrix}.$$
We can apply the usual row reduction procedure to see that the nullspace of that matrix is equal to the nullspace of $$\begin{bmatrix} 1 & -1 & -2 & 2\\0 & 1 & -\frac{1}{2} & -\frac{1}{2} \\0 & 0 & \frac{k}{2}+\frac{5}{2} & -\frac{k}{2}-\frac{5}{2}\end{bmatrix}.$$
Now if $\frac{k}{2}+\frac{5}{2}\neq 0$, then we can continue the row reduction to obtain $$\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 & 0 & -1\\ 0 & 1 & 0 & -1\\0 & 0 & 1 & -1\end{bmatrix}.$$ But this means that $a=b=c=d$, which we know is not the case. Thus $\frac{k}{2}+\frac{5}{2}=0$ must be true, i.e., $k=-5$. 
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