DETERMINANTS

• Definition 1  If A is square matrix then the

determinant function is denoted by det
and det(A) is defined to be the sum of all
the signed elementary products of A.

• Notation: det(A) = |A|

Determinants of 2x2 and 3x3
matrices
• Example Compute the determinant of
each of the following matrices:
• a)

• b)

• c)
 Properties of Determinants
• Theorem 1  Let A be an n x n matrix and c
be a scalar then,

• Example For the given matrix below

compute both det(A) and det(2A).
• Theorem 2  Suppose that A, B, and C are all n x n
matrices and that they differ by only a row, say the kth
row.  Let’s further suppose that the kth row of C can be
found by adding the corresponding entries from the kth
rows of A and B.  Then in this case we will have that

The same result will hold if we replace the word row with
column above.
• Example Consider the following three
matrices.
• Theorem 3  If A and B are matrices of the
same size then

• This theorem can be extended out to as many

matrices as we want.  For instance,
• Example For the given matrices compute
det(A), det(B), and det(AB).
• Theorem 4  Suppose that A is an
invertible matrix then,

• Theorem 5  A square matrix A is invertible

if and only if |A| ≠ 0.  A matrix that is
invertible is often called non-singular and
a matrix that is not invertible is often called
singular.
• Theorem 6  If A is a square matrix then,

• Example Compute det(A) and det(AT)

for the following matrix.
• Theorem 7  If A is a square matrix with a
row or column of all zeroes then

and so A will be singular.

• Theorem 8  Suppose that A is an n x n
triangular matrix then,
• Example Compute the determinant of
each of the following matrices.
 Minor and Cofactor of a Matrix
• Definition 1  If A is a square matrix then
the minor of aij , denoted by Mij , is the
determinant of the submatrix that results
from removing the ith row and jth column
of A.
• Definition 2  If A is a square matrix then
the cofactor of aij , denoted by Cij , is the
number
• Example For the following matrix,
compute the cofactors C12 ,C24 , and C32.
 COFACTOR EXPANSION
• Theorem 1 If A is an n x n matrix.
(a) Choose any row, say row i, then,

(b) Choose any column, say column j, then,

The process of moving across a row or down a

column is often called a cofactor expansion.
• Example For the following matrix compute
the determinant using the given cofactor
expansions.
• Example Using a cofactor expansion
compute the determinant of
• Definition 3  Let A be an n x n matrix and Cij be
the cofactor of aij.  The matrix of cofactors
from A is

• The adjoint of A is the transpose of the matrix

of cofactors and is denoted by adj(A).
• Example Compute the adjoint of the
following matrix.
• The matrix of cofactors is then,

• The adjoint is then,

• Theorem 2 If A is an invertible matrix then
• Example Use the adjoint matrix to
compute the inverse of the following
matrix.