DETERMINANTS

Introduction to Determinants
Determinant - a square array of
numbers or variables enclosed between
parallel vertical bars.

**To find a determinant you must have

a SQUARE MATRIX!!**
Finding a 2 x 2 determinant:

a b
= ad - bc
c d
Determinant
 The determinant is a number that can be calculated
knowing the elements of the (coefficient) matrix.
 The matrix inverse doesn’t exist if the determinant is zero.
 A condition for the inverse to exist is that the determinant is
not zero.
 Determinant zero; coefficient matrix is singular; solution
does not exist; system is contradictory OR undetermined;
matrix rank is less than number of equations (or just
division by zero, overflow etc.): all mean the same…

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Determinant of a 2 x 2 Matrix
• If is 2 x 2 matrix. Determinant of A can be defined as:
det(A) or |A| • No of Term:2 terms
• How to decide no of
terms?
Answer: n!=2!=1 x 2=2

Example:

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Find the determinant:
5 7
1.
11 8  58  711  40  77
40  77  37
3 2
2.
1 5
 35  21  15  2
15  2  17
Determinant of 2  2 Matrices

a b 
1. If A =   the determinant of A,
c d 
a b
det  A   A =  ad  bc
c d
2. For a square matrix A,
A = AT
3. For any two square matrices A and B of the same order,
AB = A B

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Exercise 1 (Determinant)

 Given the matrices

 4 3 1 2  2 1
A , B    , and C   ,
 7 1 5 3  2 4 
find its determinant if exist.

 Then show that

1) A  AT 2) AB  A B

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Determinant of a 3 x 3 Matrix

a b c
d e f  aei  bfg  cdh  afh  bdi  ceg
g h i

a b c a b c a b c
Sum from left to right
d e f d e f d e f Subtract from right to left
g h i g h i g h i Note: N! terms

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Determinant of 3  3 Matrices

 Use Special Formula

 a11 a12 a13 
If A   a21 a22 a23  , then the determinant of A,
 a31 a32 a33 

 a11 a12 a13  a11 a12

A   a21 a22 a23  a21 a22
 a31 a32 a33  a31 a32
 a11a22 a33  a12 a23a31  a13a21a32  a12 a21a33  a11a23a32  a13a22 a31

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• If is 3 x 3 matrix. Determinant of A can be defined as:
det(A) or |A|

• How many no of terms?

Answer: 3! =1 x 2 x 3 = 6

•
Example:

1 2 3 1 2
2 1 3 2 1
 

3 1 2 3 1 


• Basically the determinant can be measured by understand the

concept of permutation and inversion.
• Permutation can be define as below:
 10 2
3.  10(-3) - (-2)(0)
0 3
 -30 + 0 = -30
Finding a 3x3 determinant: Diagonal method
2 3 8
Step 1: Rewrite first two
4. 6 7 1 rows of the matrix.
4 5 9
 -224 +10 +162 = -52
Step 2: multiply
2 3 8 2 3
diagonals going up!
4. 6 7 1 6 7
4 5 9 4 5 Step 2: multiply
diagonals going down!
-126 +12 +240 =126

126 - (-52) Step 3: Bottom

minus top!
126 + 52
= 178
 -18 +50 +6 = 38
Step 2: multiply
5 1 2 5 1
diagonals going up!
5. 2 3 5 2 3
3 2 3 3 2 Step 2: multiply
diagonals going down!
45 - 15 + 8 = 38
38 - 38 Step 3: Bottom
minus top!
=0
Exercise 2 (Determinant)

 Given the matrices

 1 2 3 3 1 5   1 2 3
     
A   4 5 6  , B   0 2 8  , and C   2 2 3  ,
7 8 9  0 0 3   3 3 3
     

find its determinant if exist.

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Minor of an element
Let A be an m  n matrix and k an integer with 0 < k , k  m, and k  n.
A k  k minor of A is the determinant of a k  k matrix obtained from
A by deleting m - k rows and n - k columns.

There are a total of m  n minors of size k  k .

Thus we have, 9 minor as below;
Example
The minor of the element a11 in the determinant a22 a23 a21 a23 a21 a22
M11 = M12 = M13 =
a32 a33 a31 a33 a31 a33
a11 a12 a13 a12 a13 a11 a13 a11 a12
a a23 M 21 = M 22 = M 23 =
a21 a22 a23 , denoted by M11 = 22 a32 a33 a31 a33 a31 a32
a32 a33
a31 a32 a33 a12 a13 a11 a13 a11 a12
M 31 = M 32 = M 33 =
a22 a23 a21 a23 a21 a22

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Cofactor of an element
1. The cofactor of an element in a determinant is the minor of the element
  
together with the asociate sign given in the diagram   
  
a11 a12 a13
a a13
2. In general, if A = a21 a22 a23 , the cofactor of a21 , c21 =  12   M 21
a32 a33
a31 a32 a33

Example a22 a23 a21 a23 a21 a22

c11  M11  c12  M12   c13  M13 
a32 a33 a31 a33 a31 a33
a12 a13 a11 a13 a11 a12
c21  M 21 = c22  M 22  c23  M 23  
a32 a33 a31 a33 a31 a32
a12 a13 a11 a13 a11 a12
c31  M 31 = c32  M 32   c33  M 33 
a22 a23 a21 a23 a21 a22

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Matrix of Cofactors & Adjoint
matrix
 a11 a12 a13   c11 c12 c13 
1. If A   a21 a22 a23  the matrix of cofactors is , C= c21 c22 c23 
 a31 a32 a33  c31 c32 c33 
a22 a23 a21 a23
where c11  , c12   and so on
a32 a33 a31 a33

2. The transpose of the matrix of cofactors of A is the adjoint

matrix, denoted by Adj A
T
 c11 c12 c13   c11 c21 c31 
Adj A  CT  c21 c22 c23   c12 c22 c32 
 c31 c32 c33   c13 c23 c33 

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Exercise 3 (Minor and cofactor)

 Given the matrices

 1 2 3  4 5 2
   
A   4 5 6  , and B   2 8 1  ,
7 8 9 6 0 3
   

find all its minor and cofactor. Then write down

the adjoint matrix.

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Determinant of n  n Matrices
 The determinant of a n  n matrix is the sum of the
products of the i row (or j column) elements with
their corresponding cofactors
n
A   aik cik  ai1ci1  ai 2 ci 2   ain cin
k 1

 a11 a12 a13 

If A   a21 a22 a23  , then the determinant of A,
 a31 a32 a33 
a11 a12 a13
a a23 a a23 a a22
A  a21 a22 a23  a11c11  a12 c12  a13c13  a11 22  a12 21  a13 21
a32 a33 a31 a33 a31 a32
a31 a32 a33
or
a11 a12 a13
A  a21 a22 a23  a11c11  a21c21  a31c31 or else.
a31 a32 a33
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Permutation

• No of permutation can be computed as below:

n!, n factorial
n= elements of S in first position.

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Example:
1. If S= {1} then, no of permutation = 1! = 1
2. If S= {1,2} then no of permutation = 2! = (1)(2)=2 which are
12 and 21
3. If S= {1,2,3} then no of permutation = 3! = (1)(2)(3) = 6 which are
123, 231, 312, 132, 213 and 321.
• A permutation j1, j2, j3,….jn of is said to have an inversion if a
larger integer jr precedes a smaller one js. A permutation is
called even or odd according to whether the total number of
inversion in it is even or odd.
• Example: S= {1,2,3} then the permutations of S are:
123 has 0 inversion 231 has 2 inversion 312 has 2 inversion
(even permutation) (even permutation) (even permutation)

132 has 1 inversion 213 has 1 inversion 321 had 3 inversion

(odd permutation) (odd permutation) (odd permutation)
 •

•
Example

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Example 4 (determinant)

 Given the matrices

 3 7 8 9
 1 2 1   
   0 2 5 7
A   0 3 2  , and B  ,
3 2 0  0 0 1 5
   
0 0 2 4

Use cofactor to find its determinant.

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Properties of Determinants
1. The determinants of a matrix and its transpose are equal.
det (A) = det (AT)
2. If matrix B result from matrix A by interchanging two row or
columns of A then
det (B) = -det (A)

3. If two rows or columns of A are equal then det (A)= 0

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7. If a matrix A = [aij] is upper or lower triangular then
det (A)= a11a22a33….ann

Solution: det (A)= -24 det(B)=-60 det( C)=120

8. The determinant of a product of two matrices is the product of

their determinants that is
det (AB) = det (A)det (B)

9. If A is nonsingular, then det (A) ≠ 0 and

1
det (A-1)=
det( A)
Uses of Determinants

 Used for inversion a b 

A 
 If det(A) = 0, then A  c d 
has no inverse
det( A)  ad  bc
 Can be found using
factorials, pivots, and
1 1  d  b
cofactors! A 
ad  bc  c a 

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SUMMARY (Determinant of
Matrices)
 You should be able to

 Define the determinant, minor, cofactor and

adjoint of a square matrix

 Discuss the properties of determinants

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