Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Basic I.

The Determinant of Matrix

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Science, Foreing Trade University
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Let A = (a ij )n×n be a square matrix.

Determinant of A is denoted by det( A ) = A
Linear Algebra
Let M ij denote the submatrix formed by deleting the i th row and
j th column of A;
Chapter 2: DETERMINANT
Definition of (i,j)- cofactor
(i,j)- cofactor: Aij = ( − 1) i + j M ij

CONTENTS I. The Determinant of Matrix

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Recursive definition of determinant

a) k =1: A = [a11 ] → A = a11

I – The Determinant of Matrix
 a11 a12 
b) k =2: A =  → A = a11 A11 + a12 A12 = a11a 22 − a12 a 21
II – Properties of Determinant  a 21 a 22 

III – Laplace’s Expansion

 a11 a12 a13 
c) k =3: A =  a 21 a 22 a 23  → A = a11 A11 + a12 A12 + a13 A13
 
 a31 a32 a33 
...............

a a12 ⋯ a1n 
d) k =n: A =  11  → A = a11 A11 + a12 A12 + ⋯ + a1n A1n
 * 
 I. The Determinant of Matrix II. Properties of Determinant
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Example
Example
1 2 − 3
 0 
Compute det (A), where A= 2

3
 3 −1 3
 3 2 4  Compute det (A), where 
A= 5 2 2
 
 4 0 0 
Solution
A = 1 ⋅ A11 + 2 ⋅ A12 + (−3) ⋅ A13
1 2 −3 Solution.
3 0
A11 = ( − 1)1+1 2 3 0 = ( − 1)1+1 = 12 We expand across the 3th row
2 4
3 2 4
3 −1 3 3 −1 3
3 0 2 0 2 3 −1 3
A = 1 ⋅ (−1) 1+1
+ 2 ⋅ (−1)1+2 + (−3) ⋅ (−1)1+3 A= 5 2 2 = 4 ⋅ ( − 1) 3+1 5 2 2 = 4 ⋅ ( − 1) 3+1 = − 32
2 4 3 4 3 2 2 2
4 0 0 4 0 0
A = 12 − 16 + 15 = 11

II. Properties of Determinant II. Properties of Determinant

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The determinant of an n × n matrix A may be computed by a

cofactor expansion along any row or down any column
Example
 2 −3 3 2
 3 0 1 4
* Compute det (A), where A= 
 −2 0 3 2
A = ai1 ai 2 ⋯ ain = ai1 Ai1 + ai 2 Ai 2 + ⋯ + ain Ain  4
 0 − 1 5 
*
a1 j
* a2 j *
A= = a1 j A1 j + a2 j A2 j + ⋯ + anj Anj
⋯
anj
 II. Properties of Determinant II. Properties of Determinant
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Solution Using Row Operation for Calculating Determinant

We expand down the 2th column
a. If a multiple of one row of A is added to another to produced a
matrix B, then det(B) = det(A).
2 −3 3 2
3 0 1 4 b. If two row of A interchanged to produced B, then
A = = ( − 3) ⋅ A12 + 0 ⋅ A22 + 0 ⋅ A32 + 0 ⋅ A42 = − 3 A12 det(B) = - det(A).
−2 0 3 2
4 0 −1 5 c. If one row of A is multiplied by scalar k to produced a B, then
det(B) =k det(A).
3 1 4
Triangular matrix
A = −3 − 2 3 2 = ⋯ = −171
4 −1 5
A Row operations
B

II. Properties of Determinant II. Properties of Determinant

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If A is a triangular matrix, then det(A) is the product of the Using Row Operation for Calculating Determinant
entries on the main diagonal of A.
ri → k .ri
1. If A  → B then | B |= k . | A |

Example r → k .r + r
j
2. If A   i 
j
→ B then | B |=| A |
2 −1 3 0 4
0 −3 6 7 1 i
A  j

r ↔r
→ B then | B |= − | A |
3. If
A= 0 0 5 2 8 = 2 ⋅ ( − 3) ⋅ 5 ⋅ 4 ⋅ 1 = − 120
0 0 0 4 9
0 0 0 0 1
 II. Properties of Determinant II. Properties of Determinant
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Example Example

Find the determinant of a matrix A, using elementary operations Find the determinant of a matrix A, using elementary operations

 1 1 2 −1  3 2 −1 1 
   
2 3 −2 0 
A = 
2 3 5 0  A = 
3 2 6 − 2 −3 1 4 − 2
 
 
1   4 1 3 1 
− 2 1 3

det( A) = 30

II. Properties of Determinant II. Properties of Determinant

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Solution
A cofactor expansion requires over n! multiplications.
1 1 2 − 1 r → −2 r + r 1 1 2 −1
2 1 2
2 3 5 0 r3 → − 3r1 + r3 0 1 1 2 If a supercomputer could make one trillion multiplications per
| A |=
3 2 6 −2 0 −1 0 1 second, it would have to run for over 500.000 years to compute a
r4 → 2 r1 + r4 25x25 determinant by cofactor expansion (required 25! is
−2 1 3 1 0 3 7 −1 approximately 1.5x1025 operations).
1 1 2 −1 1 1 2 −1
r3 → − r2 + r3 r4 → − 4 r3 + r4 0 1 1 2
0 1 1 2 Most computer programs that compute det (A) using a row
0 0 1 3 operations.
r4 → − 3r2 + r4 0 0 1 3
0 0 0 −19 The row operations requires (n3+2n-3)/3 multiplications and
0 0 4 −7
divisions. Any modern microcomputer can calculate a 25x25
determinant in a fraction of a second, since less than 5300 such
 A = 1.1.1.(−19) = −19 operations are required.
 II. Properties of Determinant II. Adjunct matrix
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Definition. A adjunct matrix of matrix A .

If A is an nxn matrix, then det (AT) = det (A)
T
 A11 A12 ⋯ A1n 
A A22 ⋯ A2 n  Aij = ( − 1)i + j M ij
det(AB) = det(A) det(B) A* =  21 
 ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ 
A ⋯ Ann 
 n1 An 2
If a matrix A has a zero row, then det (A) = 0

Theorem .
If a matrix A has two identical rows, then det (A) = 0
A.A*= A*.A= det(A). I
Warning: det(A+B) is not equal to det(A) + det(B) in general

II. Properties of Determinant II. Properties of Determinant

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Determinant Formula for A-1

a b+c d a b d a c d Theorem.
e f +g h = e g h+e f h A square matrix A is invertible if and only if det(A) ≠ 0.

i j+k l i j l i k l
1
A−1 = A*
A
 II. Properties of Determinant
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1 1 1
Exp. Find the inverse of the matrix 
A= 2 3 1 Example 6
 
 3 4 0  Solve the equation, where a, b, c are real numbers.
Solution. det( A) = −2 ≠ 0 A is invertible
1 x x2 x3
The nine cofactors are
1 a a2 a3
3 1 2 1 2 3 =0
A11 = (−1)1+1 = −4; A12 = (−1)1+ 2 = 3; A13 = (−1)1+3 = −1 1 b b2 b3
4 0 3 0 3 4
1 c c2 c3
A21 = 4; A22 = −3; A23 = −1; A31 = −2; A32 = 1; A33 = 1

−4 4 −2
1 
3 −3 1 
1 −1
A = A* =
−2 −2  
 −1 −1 1 

II. Properties of Determinant

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Properties of an invertible matrix

1
1. A −1 =
A
n −1
2. If A is invertible, then A* = A

Proof.