Well I know it would feel like any of the two ways above can be used, but I'm not very sure of this. The reason is nowhere when ERO is talked about,the linear combo operation is stated as $rR_j +sR_i \to R_j$. It is always given as $R_j + sR_i \to R_j$. (i.e scalar multiple of row $R_j$ is always 1) Is this because $rR_j +sR_i \to R_j$ would pose some kind of a problem?
The question might seem trivial but some clarification would be appreciated.