Week 3 – Lecture notes

Minors and Cofactors

The knowledge of minors and cofactors is important in
the computation of determinant of a square matrix and
hence in the computation of adjoint of a matrix as well in
inverse of a matrix.
Minors: The minor of an element aij in determinant A is
the value of the determinant obtained by deleting the ith
row and jth column of determinant A and it is denoted by
M ij .

a b
If det( A)  then Minor of A
c d

minor of a is d ( M11 ) ;
minor of b is c ( M12 ) ;
minor of c is b ( M 21 ) and
minor of d is a ( M 22 )
d c
Therefore, Minor of A 
b a
2 2
Minor of 4 in A 
4 6
 2 2
Minor of 4 in A  is -2 ( M 21) .
4 6
3 4
Minors of all the elements of the determinant A 
3 4

 4 3
Therefore minor of determinant A equals to  
 4 3 
Find the minors of the elements of the
a b c
det( A)  d e f
g h i
Each element in A has a minor
For the entries in the first row the minors are
Here, a11  a , we delete first row and first column of
det(A)
e f
Minor M11 of a11  a is: M 11   ei  fh
h i
Here, a12  b , delete first row and second column of
det(A).
d f
Minor M12 of a12  b is: M 12   di  fg
g i
Here, a13  c , delete first row and third column of det(A).

d e
Minor M13 of a13  c is: M 13   dh  eg
g h
For the entries in the second row the minors are
b c
Minor M 21 of a21  d is: M 21   bi  ch
h i
a c
Minor M 22 of a22  e is: M 22   ai  cg
g i
a b
Minor M 23 of a23  f is: M 23   ah  bg
g h
For the entries in the third row the minors are
b c
Minor M 31 of a31  g is: M 31   bf  ce
e f
a c
Minor M 32 of a32  h is: M 32   af  cd
d f
a b
Minor M 33 of a33  i is: M 33   ae  bd
d e
Cofactor:
When a minor M ij is multiplied by (1)i  j of the respective
element is known as cofactor and it is denoted by Aij .
When the sum of row number i and column number j is
even then Aij  M ij
When i+j is odd then Aij   M ij

a b
If det( A)  then Cofactor of A
c d
d c
Step 1: Minor of determinant A  
b a 
Step 2:
Cofactor A11 of a is (1)11 M11  d
Cofactor A12 of b is (1)12 M12  c
Cofactor A21 of c is (1)21 M 21  b
Cofactor A22 of d is (1)22 M 22  a
 d c 
Cofactor of determinant A is equals to A   
 b a 

Adjoint of a Square Matrix

Adjoint of a square matrix A   aij  is the transpose of
cofactor matrix Aij . It is denoted by adj A.
T '
adj A   Aij  (or) adj A   Aij 
Adjoint can also be called as adjugate
 3 5
Example: If A    then adjoint of A = ?
 1 6 
Minor of 3 = 6 ( M11) ; Minor of 5 = -1 ( M12 ) ; Minor of -1 = 5 ( M 21) ; Minor of 6 = 3
( M 22 ) .

6 1
Minor of A 
5 3 
Cofactor of 6 = (1)11 M11  ( 1) 2  6  6 ; cofactor of -1 = (1)1 2 M12  (1)3  (1)  1

Cofactor of 5 = (1)2 1 M 21  (1)3  (5)  5 ; cofactor of 3 = (1) 2  2 M 22  (1) 4  (3)  3

 6 1
Cofactor of A 
 5 3
 
6 5
Therefore, adj A  [cofactor of A]T   
1 3 

Properties of adjoint
(1) If A is a square matrix of order n then
A(adjA)  A I n  (adjA) A where I n is a
square matrix of order n
For example, let us consider the matrix
  
A 
   
 
A    
 
      
T

adj ( A)   
      


      
A(adjA)  
      
   0 

 0    
1 0 
 (   )    A I2
0 1 
       
(adjA) A      
    
   0 
 
 0    
 1 0 
 (   )    A I2
0 1 
This implies that, A(adjA)  A I n  (adjA) A
(2) If A and B are two square matrices of the
same order then adj(AB)  (adjB)(adjA)
For example, let us consider the matrices
 4 6   2 6 
A  and B   
10 2   8 0 
 2 10 
T
 2 6
adj ( A)     
 6 4   10 4 
 0 8  0 6 
T

adj ( B )     
 6  2    8 2 
 0 6   2 6
adj ( B)adj ( A)     10
 8  2  4 
60 24 

4 56 
 4 6   2 6   56 24 
AB    8 
10 2  0   4 60 

 60 24 
T
 60 4 
adj ( AB)     
 24 56   4 56 
This implies that adj ( AB)  (adjB)(adjA)
(3) If A is a square matrix of order n then
adj(AT )  (adjA)T

Inverse of a Square Matrix

Why it is important to know the inverse of a matrix?
Because it will help us to solve simultaneous equations.
Inverse of a matrix can be calculated using adjoint of a
matrix.
Let A be any non-singular (or invertible) matrix of order
n. If there exists a square matrix B of order n such that
AB=BA=I then B is called the inverse of A and it is
denoted by A1 .
When we multiply a number by its reciprocal we get the
answer as one (1) and when we multiply a matrix by its
inverse we get Identity matrix (I)
 2 4 
Verify that B is the inverse of A where A   
 4 10 
5 1 
and B   
2
 1 1 
 2
If AB=BA=I, then we can say B is the inverse of A.

4  2 1  1 0 
5
2  
AB     
 4 10   1 1  0 1 
 2
5 1  2 4  1 0 
BA   2  
 1 1   4 10  0 1 
 2
Therefore, AB=BA=I implies B is the inverse of A