Elementary Matrix Operations

Elementary matrix operations play an important role in many matrix algebra applications, such asfinding
the inverse of a matrix and solving simultaneous linear equations.

Elementary Operations

There are three kinds of elementary matrix operations.

1. Interchange two rows (or columns).

2. Multiply each element in a row (or column) by a non-zero number.
3. Multiply a row (or column) by a non-zero number and add the result to another row (or column).

When these operations are performed on rows, they are called elementary row operations

Echelon form:-
This means that the matrix meets the following three requirements:

1. The first number in the row (called a leading coefficient) is 1. Note: some authors don’t require that the leading
coefficient is a 1; it could be any number. You may want to check with your instructor to see which version of
this rule they are adhering to).
2. Every leading 1 is to the right of the one above it.
3. Any non-zero rows are always above rows with all zeros.

or
Row Echelon Form

A matrix is in row echelon form (ref) when it satisfies the following conditions.

 The first non-zero element in each row, called the leading entry, is 1.
 Each leading entry is in a column to the right of the leading entry in the previous row.
 Rows with all zero elements, if any, are below rows having a non-zero element.
A matrix is in reduced row echelon form (rref) when it satisfies the following conditions.

 The matrix is in row echelon form (i.e., it satisfies the three conditions listed above).
 The leading entry in each row is the only non-zero entry in its column.

A matrix in echelon form is called an echelon matrix. Matrix A and matrix B are examples of echelon
matrices.

1 2 3 4 1 2 0 0

0 0 1 3 0 0 1 0

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

A B

Properties of Determinants
Property 1
The value of the determinant remains unchanged if both rows and
columns are interchanged.

Verification: Let

Expanding along the first row, we get,

= a1 (b2 c3 – b3 c2) – a2 (b1 c3 – b3 c1) + a3 (b1 c2 – b2 c1)

By interchanging the rows and columns of Δ, we get the determinant

Expanding Δ1 along first column, we get,

Δ1 = a1 (b2 c3 – c2 b3) – a2 (b1 c3 – b3 c1) + a3 (b1 c2 – b2 c1)
Hence Δ = Δ1

Property 2:
If any two rows (or columns) of a determinant are interchanged, then
sign of determinant changes.

Verification: Let

Expanding along first row, we get,

Δ = a1 (b2 c3 – b3 c2) – a2 (b1 c3 – b3 c1) + a3 (b1 c2 – b2 c1)
Interchanging first and third rows, the new determinant obtained as

Expanding along third row, we get,

Δ1 = a1 (c2 b3 – b2 c3) – a2 (c1 b3 – c3 b1) + a3 (b2 c1 – b1 c2)
= – [a1 (b2 c3 – b3 c2) – a2 (b1 c3 – b3 c1) + a3 (b1 c2 – b2 c1)]
Clearly Δ1 = – Δ
Similarly, we can verify the result by interchanging any two columns.
Property 3:
If any two rows (or columns) of a determinant are identical (all
corresponding elements are same), then the value of the determinant is
zero.

Proof: If we interchange the identical rows (or columns) of the

determinant Δ, then Δ does not change. However, by Property 2, it
follows that Δ has changed its sign, therefore Δ = – Δ or Δ = 0. So let us
verify the above property by an example.

Example: Evaluate

Solution: Expanding along first row, we get,

Δ = 3 (6 – 6) – 2 (6 – 9) + 3 (4 – 6)
= 0 – 2 (–3) + 3 (–2) = 6 – 6 = 0
Here both the rows R1 and R3 are identical.

Property 4:
If each element of a row (or a column) of a determinant is multiplied by
a constant k, then its value gets multiplied by k.

Verification: Let
and Δ1 be the determinant consequently obtained by multiplying the
elements of the first row by k. Then,

So now expanding along the first row, we get

Δ1 = k a1 (b2 c3 – b3 c2) – k b1 (a2 c3 – c2 a3) + k c1 (a2 b3 – b2 a3)
= k [a1 (b2 c3 – b3 c2) – b1 (a2 c3 – c2 a3) + c1 (a2 b3 – b2 a3)]
=kΔ
Hence,

Property 5:
If some or all elements of a row or column of a determinant are
expressed as the sum of two (or more) terms, then the determinant can
be expressed as the sum of two (or more) determinants. For example,

Verification: L.H.S. =
So now expanding the determinants along the first row, we get,
Δ = (a1 + λ1) (b2 c3 – c2 b3) – (a2 + λ2) (b1 c3 – b3 c1) + (a3 + λ3) (b1 c2– b2 c1)
= a1 (b2 c3 – c2 b3) – a2 (b1 c3 – b3 c1) + a3 (b1 c2 – b2 c1) + λ1 (b2 c3 – c2 b3) –
λ2 (b1c3 – b3 c1) + λ3 (b1 c2 – b2 c1)

= R.H.S.
Similarly, we may verify Property 5 for other rows or columns.