The application of the null-determinant technique to eliminate the inconsistency of x-ray empirical equations is investigated. Experiments with a series of stainless steel standards show that, in general, calculated compositions obtained by the null-determinant technique agree more closely with chemical analysis than do those obtained by simple averaging. Since it is usually errors in measured intensities which lead to inconsistent estimates of concentrations, the advantages of the null-determinant technique in adjusting the intensities become evident.