Proof 15.

1 Barr Yaron Given: C = AB Prove: det C = det A det B The n x n matrix A can be expressed in terms of its columns: A = (a1 , a2 , , an ) The rst column of C can be expressed as c1 = Ab1 , and because A is linear, it can also be expressed as:
n n n

c1 = Ab1 = A(
i=1

bi,1 ei ) =
i=1

bi,1 A(ei )) =
i=1

bi,1 ai .

This process can be applied to all other columns of C , and so

n n n

det C = det[(
i1 =1

bi1 ,1 ai1 )(
i2 =1

bi2 ,2 ai2 ) (
in =1

bin ,n ain )]

We can rearrange this by linearity

n

det C =
i1 ,i2 ,in

bi1 ,1 bi2 ,2 bin ,n det(ai1 , ai2 , , ain )

This means that det C = f (B ) det A where f (B ) is some funky function of the entries of B . Why? There are nn terms in the above sum, but all but n! of them equal 0 because of a repeated subscript, which by antisymmetry yields a determinant of zero. The n! terms that do not equal zero are equal to the funky function of the product of B , f (B ), multiplied by +/ det A. det C = f (B ) det AA So we can let A = I, C = AB = IB = B, det B = det C This means that det B = f (B ) det(I ) = f (B ) Plugging det B = f (B ) back into det C = f (B ) det A gives us det C = det B det A.