Chapter 3

Determinants
( 行列式 )

Linear Algebra by R.W. Hung, Dept. CSIE, CYUT, Taiwan 3-1

 Topic Overview
3.1 Introduction to Determinants
3.2 Properties of Determinants
3.3 Numerical Evaluation of a Determinant
3.4 Determinants, Matrix Inverses, and Systems of
Linear Equations
 3.1 Introduction to Determinants
Definition
。The determinant of a 22 matrix A is denoted |A| and is give
n by a11 a12
 a a a a 11 22 12 21
a21 a22
 +
。Observe that the determinant of a 22 matrix is given by the
different of the products of the two diagonals of the matrix.
。The notation det(A) is also used for the determinant of A.

• Example 1:
 2 4
A 
 3 1

2 4
det(A)  
3 1
Definition
Let A be a square matrix.
。The minor of the element aij is denoted Mij and is the determi
nant of the matrix that remains after deleting row i and colum
n j of A.
。The cofactor of aij is denoted Cij and is given by
Cij = (–1)i+j Mij
。Note that Cij = Mij or Mij .
• Example 2:
Determine the minors and cofactors of the elements a11 and
a32 of the following matrix A. 1 0 3
A  4  1 2
0  2 1
Solution
1 0 3
1 2
Minor of a11 : M 11  4  1 2   (1 1)  (2  (2))  3
2 1
0 2 1
Cofactor of a11 : C11  (1)11 M 11  (1) 2 (3)  3
1 0 3
1 3
Minor of a32 : M 32  4 1 2   (1 2)  (3  4)  10
4 2
0 2 1
Cofactor of a32 : C32  (1) 3 2 M 32  (1) 5 (10)  10
Definition
。The determinant of a square matrix is the sum of the
products of the elements of the first row and their cofactors.
If A is 3  3, A  a11C11  a12C12  a13C13
If A is 4  4, A  a11C11  a12C12  a13C13  a14C14

If A is n  n, A  a11C11  a12C12  a13C13  ...  a1nC1n

。These equations are called cofactor expansions of |A|.

• Example 3:
Evaluate the determinant of the following matrix A.
 1 2  1
A   3 0 1
4 2 1
Solution
Theorem 3.1
The determinant of a square matrix is the sum of the products
of the elements of any row or column and their cofactors.
。ith row expansion: A  ai1Ci1  ai 2Ci 2  ...  ain Cin
。jth column expansion: A  a1 j C1 j  a2 j C2 j  ...  anj Cnj

。(1)i+j:     ...
    ...
 
    ...
 
      
• Example 4:
Find the determinant of the following matrix using the
second row.  1 2  1
A   3 0 1
4 2 1
Solution
• Example 5:
Evaluate the determinant of the following 4  4 matrix.
2 1 0 4
0  1 0 2

7  2 3 5
 
0 1 0  3

Solution
• Example 6:
Solve the following equation for the variable x.
x x 1
7
1 x  2
Solution
 Computing Determinants of 2  2 and 3  3 Matrices

。 22 matrix
a a12 
A   11  A  a11 a22  a12 a21
a21 a22 

。 33 matrix
 a11 a12 a13   a11 a12 a13  a11 a12
A  a21 a22 a23   a21 a22 a23  a21 a22
 a31 a32 a33   a31 a32 a33  a31 a32

 A  a11a22 a33  a12 a23a31  a13a21a32

(diagonal products from left to right)
 a13a22 a31  a11 a23a32  a12 a21a33
(diagonal products from right to left)
• Example:  1 2  1
A   3 0 1
4 2 1
 3.2 Properties of Determinants
Theorem 3.2
Let A be an n  n matrix and c be a nonzero scalar.
(a) If A  B then |B| = c|A|.
cRk

 B then |B| = –|A|.

(b) If A R 
i R j

(c) If A R cR B then |B| = |A|.

i j

Proof of (a)
|A| = ak1Ck1 + ak2Ck2 + … + aknCkn
|B| = cak1Ck1 + cak2Ck2 + … + caknCkn
|B| = c|A|.
• Example 1: 3 4 2
Evaluate the determinant 1  6 3.
2 9 3

Solution
• Example 2:
 1 4 3
If A   0 2 5, |A| = 12 is known.
 2  4 10

Evaluate the determinants of the following matrices.

 1 12 3  1 4 3  1 4 3
(a ) B1   0 6 5 (b) B2   2  4 10 (c) B3  0 2 5
 2  12 10  0 2 5 0 4 16

Solution
Definition
。 A square matrix A is said to be singular if |A| = 0.
。 A is nonsingular if |A|  0.

Theorem 3.3
Let A be a square matrix. A is singular if
。 all the elements of a row (column) are zero.
。 two rows (columns) are equal.
。 two rows (columns) are proportional. (i.e., Ri = cRj)
• Example 3:
Show that the following matrices are singular.
 2 0  7 2  1 3
(a ) A   3 0 1 (b) B   1 2 4
 4 0 9 2 4 8

Solution
(a) All the elements in column 2 of A are zero. Thus |A| = 0
(b) Row 2 and row 3 are proportional. Thus |B| = 0.
Theorem 3.4
Let A and B be n  n matrices and c be a nonzero scalar.
(a) |cA| = cn|A|.
(b) |AB| = |A||B|.
(c) |At| = |A|.
1 1
(d) A  . (assuming A–1 exists)
A

Proof
(a) A  cA  cA  c n A
cR1, cR 2, ..., cRn

1 1 1 1
(d) A  A  A A  I 1  A 
A
• Example 4:
If A is a 2  2 matrix with |A| = 4, use Theorem 3.4 to
compute the following determinants.
(a) |3A| (b) |A2| (c) |5AtA–1|, assuming A–1 exists
Solution
(a) |3A| = (32)|A| = 9  4 = 36.
(b) |A2| = |AA| =|A| |A|= 4  4 = 16.
(c) |5AtA–1| = (52)|AtA–1| = 25|At||A–1| = 25 (|A|) (1/|A|) = 25.

• Examples 5:
Prove that |A–1AtA| = |A|.
Proof
1 1 1 1 1
A A A  (A A )A  A A A  A
t t t
A A
t
A A  A.
A
• Example 6:
Prove that if A and B are square matrices of the same size,
with A being singular, then AB is also singular.
Is the converse true?
Solution
 3.3 Numerical Evaluation of a Determinant
Definition
。A square matrix is called an upper triangular matrix if all
the elements below the main diagonal are zero.
。It is called a lower triangular matrix if all the elements
above the main diagonal are zero.

• Example:
1 4 0 7 8 0 0 0
 3 8 2    7 0 0  
 0 1 5 ,  0 2 3 5  2 1 0  , 1 4 0 0
  0 0 0 9   7 0 2 0
0 0 9    3 9 8  
0 0 0 1 4 5 8 1
upper triangular lower triangular
Theorem 3.5
The determinant of a triangular matrix is the product of
its diagonal elements.

Proof
a11 a12  a1n a22 a23  a2 n a33 a34  a3n
0 a22  a2 n 0 a33  a3n 0 a44  a4 n
 a11  a11a22  ...  a11a22  ann
           
0  0 ann 0  0 ann 0  0 ann
• Example 1:
2  1 9
Let A  0 3  4, find A .
0 0  5
Solution

A  2  3  (5)  30.
• Example 2:
Evaluation the determinant.  2 4 1
  2  5 4
 
 4 9 10
Solution（利用 elementary row operations 將矩陣三角化）
See Theorem 3.2 
RiRj: 
cRi+Rj : unchanged
• Example 3: ( 自行練習 )
1 0 2 1
Evaluation the determinant 2 1 1 0
1 0 0 3
1 0 2 1
Solution（利用 elementary row operations 將矩陣三角化）
1 0 2 1  1 0 2 1
2 1 1 0 R2  (2)R1 0  1  3  2
1 0 0 3 R3  (1)R1 0 0  2 2
1 0 2 1 R4  R1 0 0 4 2
1 0 2 1
 0 1  3  2
R4  2R3 0 0 2 2
0 0 0 6

 1 (1)  (2)  6  12
• Example 4:
1 2 4
Evaluation the determinant 1 2 5
2  2 11

Solution（ elementary row operations 三角化）

• Example 5: 1 1 0 2
Evaluation the determinant  1 1 2 3
2 2 3 4
6 6 5 1
（利用 elementary row operations 將矩陣三角化 : 自行練習）
Solution

1 1 0 2  1 1 0 2
1 1 2 3 R2  R1 0 0 2 5
=0
2  2 3 4 R3  (2)R1 0 0 3 0
6  6 5 1 R4  (6)R1 0 0 5  11

diagonal element is zero and all elements

below this diagonal element are zero.
 3.4 Determinants, Matrix Inverse, and Systems
of Linear Equations
Definition
Let A be an n  n matrix and Cij be the cofactor of aij.
。The matrix whose (i, j)th element is Cij is called the matrix of
cofactor of A .
。The transpose of this matrix is called the adjoint of A ( 伴隨
矩陣 ) and is denoted adj(A).

 C11 C12  C1n  t

 C11 C12  C1n 
C  C2 n  C 
 21 C22  21 C 22  C 2n 
       
   
Cn1 Cn 2  Cnn  C
 n1 C n2  C nn 
matrix of cofactor adjoint matrix
• Example 1:
Find the matrix of cofactors and the adjoint matrix of the foll
owing matrix A.  2 0 3
A   1 4  2
Solution  1  3 5
The cofactors of A are as follows:
Theorem 3.6
Let A be a square matrix with |A|  0.
Then, A is invertible with 1 1
A  adj( A).
A

If |A|0, then A1 exists and A1 = (1/|A|)adj(A)

Theorem 3.7
A square matrix A is invertible if and only if |A|  0.

Proof
() Assume that A is invertible.
 AA–1 = In.
 |AA–1| = |In|.
 |A||A–1| = 1
 |A|  0.
() Theorem 3.6 tells us that if |A|  0, then A is invertible.

A–1 exists if and only if |A|  0.

• Example 2:
Use a determinant to find out which of the following matrices
are invertible.
1  1 4 2  2 4  3  1 2  1
A   B   C   4 12  7  D   1 1 2
3 2 2 1
 1 0 1  2 8 0

Solution
。 |A| = 5  0. A is invertible.
。 |B| = 0. B is singular. The inverse does not exist.
。 |C| = 0. C is singular. The inverse does not exist.
。 |D| = 2  0. D is invertible.
• Example 3:
Use the formula for the inverse of a matrix to compute the
inverse of the matrix  2 0 3
A   1 4  2 .
 1  3 5
Solution
 Determinants and Systems of Linear Equations

Theorem 3.8
Let AX = B be a system of n linear equations in n variables.
(1) If |A|  0, there is a unique solution.
(2) If |A| = 0, there may be many or no solutions.

Proof
(1) If |A|  0
A–1 exists (Theorem 3.7)
there is then a unique solution given by X = A–1B(Theorem 2.9).
(2) If |A| = 0
 since A  ...  C implies that if |A|  0 then |C|  0(Theorem 3.2).
 the reduced echelon form of A is not In.
 The solution to the system AX = B is not unique.
 many or no solutions.
• Example 4:
Determine whether or not the following system of equations
has an unique solution. 3x1  3x2  2 x3  2
4 x1  x2  3 x3  5
7 x1  4 x2  x3  9
Solution
。 3 3 2
4 1 3 0
7 4 1
。 Thus the system does not have an unique solution.
Theorem 3.9: Cramer’s Rule
Let AX = B be a system of n linear equations in n variables such
that |A|  0.
The system has a unique solution given by
A A A
x1  1 , x2  2 , ... , xn  n
A A A
, where Ai is the matrix obtained by replacing column i of A with B.
• Example 5:
Solving the following system of equations using Cramer’s
rule. x1  3x2  x3  2
2 x1  5 x2  x3  5
x1  2 x2  3 x3  6
Solution
• Example 5: Solution (Cont.)
• Example 6:
Determine values of  for which the following system of
equations has nontrivial solutions. (λ  2) x1  (λ  4) x2  0
Find the solutions for each value of . 2 x1  (λ  1) x2  0

Solution
• Example 6: Solution (Cont.)
 Quiz #2
• Content:
。 Chapters 2-3: Exercises
。 Slides: Ch2-Ch3

• Date: