1. College Algebra Sixth Edition James Stewart Lothar Redlin Saleem Watson

2. Matrices and Determinants 6

3. Determinants and Cramer’s Rule 6.4

4. Determinants If a matrix is square (that is, if it has the same number of rows as columns), then we can assign to it a number called its determinant. Determinants can be used to solve systems of linear equations--as we will see later in the section. They are also useful in determining whether a matrix has an inverse.

5. Determinant of a 2 x 2 Matrix

6. Determinant of 1 x 1 matrix We denote the determinant of a square matrix A by the symbol det(A) or | A |. We first define det(A) for the simplest cases. If A = [a] is a 1 x 1 matrix, then det(A) = a.

7. Determinant of a 2 x 2 Matrix The determinant of the 2 x 2 matrix is:

8. E.g. 1—Determinant of a 2 x 2 Matrix Evaluate | A | for

9. Determinant of an n x n Matrix

10. To define the concept of determinant for an arbitrary n x n matrix, we need the following terminology.

11. Determinant of an n x n Matrix Let A be an n x n matrix. The minor M ij of the element a ij is the determinant of the matrix obtained by deleting the ith row and jth column of A. The cofactor A ij of the element a ij is: A ij = (–1) i + j M ij

12. Determinant of an n x n Matrix For example, A is the matrix The minor M 12 is the determinant of the matrix obtained by deleting the first row and second column from A. So, the cofactor A 12 = (–1) 1+2 M 12 = –8

13. Determinant of an n x n Matrix Similarly, So, A 33 = (–1) 3+3 M 33 = 4

14. Determinant of an n x n Matrix Note that the cofactor of a ij is simply the minor of a ij multiplied by either 1 or –1, depending on whether i + j is even or odd. Thus, in a 3 x 3 matrix, we obtain the cofactor of any element by prefixing its minor with the sign obtained from the following checkerboard pattern.

15. Determinant of a Square Matrix We are now ready to define the determinant of any square matrix.

16. Determinant of a Square Matrix If A is an n x n matrix, the determinant of A is obtained by multiplying each element of the first row by its cofactor, and then adding the results.

17. E.g. 2—Determinant of a 3 x 3 Matrix Evaluate the determinant of the matrix.

18. E.g. 2—Determinant of a 3 x 3 Matrix

19. Expanding the Determinant In our definition of the determinant, we used the cofactors of elements in the first row only. This is called expanding the determinant by the first row. In fact, we can expand the determinant by any row or column in the same way, and obtain the same result in each case. We won’t prove this, though.

20. E.g. 3—Expanding Determinant About Row and Column Let A be the matrix of Example 2. Evaluate the determinant of A by expanding (a) by the second row (b) by the third column Verify that each expansion gives the same value.

21. E.g. 3—Expanding about Row Expanding by the second row, we get: Example (a)

22. E.g. 3—Expanding about Column Expanding by the third column, we get: Example (b)

23. E.g. 3—Expanding Determinant about Row and Column In both cases, we obtain the same value for the determinant as when we expanded by the first row in Example 2.

24. Using Graphical Calculators Graphing calculators are capable of computing determinants. Here is the output when the TI-83 is used to calculate the determinant in Example 3.

25. Inverse of Square Matrix The following criterion allows us to determine whether a square matrix has an inverse without actually calculating the inverse. This is one of the most important uses of the determinant in matrix algebra. It is reason for the name determinant.

26. Invertibility Criterion If A is a square matrix, then A has an inverse if and only if det(A) ≠ 0. We will not prove this fact. However, from the formula for the inverse of a 2 x 2 matrix, you can see why it is true in the 2 x 2 case.

27. E.g. 4—Determinant to Show Matrix Is Not Invertible Show that the matrix A has no inverse. We begin by calculating the determinant of A. Since all but one of the elements of the second row is zero, we expand the determinant by the second row.

28. E.g. 4—Determinant to Show Matrix Is Not Invertible If we do so, we see from this equation that only the cofactor A 24 needs to be calculated.

29. E.g. 4—Determinant to Show Matrix Is Not Invertible Since the determinant of A is zero, A cannot have an inverse—by the Invertibility Criterion.

30. Row and Column Transformations

31. The preceding example shows that, if we expand a determinant about a row or column that contains many zeros, our work is reduced considerably. We don’t have to evaluate the cofactors of the elements that are zero.

32. Row and Column Transformations The following principle often simplifies the process of finding a determinant by introducing zeros into it without changing its value.

33. Row and Column Transformations of a Determinant If A is a square matrix, and if the matrix B is obtained from A by adding a multiple of one row to another, or a multiple of one column to another, then det(A) = det(B)

34. E.g. 5—Using Row and Column Transformations Calculate a Determinant Find the determinant of the matrix A. Does it have an inverse?

35. If we add –3 times row 1 to row 3, we change all but one element of row 3 to zeros: This new matrix has the same determinant as A. E.g. 5—Using Row and Column Transformations Calculate a Determinant

36. If we expand its determinant by the third row, we get: Now, adding 2 times column 3 to column 1 in this determinant gives us the following result. E.g. 5—Using Row and Column Transformations Calculate a Determinant

37. E.g. 5—Using Row and Column Transformations Since the determinant of A is not zero, A does have an inverse.

38. Cramer’s Rule

39. Linear Equations and Determinants The solutions of linear equations can sometimes be expressed using determinants. To illustrate, let’s solve the following pair of linear equations for the variable x.

40. Linear Equations and Determinants To eliminate the variable y, we multiply the first equation by d and the second by b, and subtract.

41. Linear Equations and Determinants Factoring the left-hand side, we get: (ad – bc)x = rd – bs Assuming that ad – bc ≠ 0, we can now solve this equation for x: Similarly, we find:

42. Linear Equations and Determinants The numerator and denominator of the fractions for x and y are determinants of 2 x 2 matrices. So, we can express the solution of the system using determinants as follows.

43. Cramer’s Rule for Systems in Two Variables The linear system has the solution provided

44. Cramer’s Rule Using the notation the solution of the system can be written as:

45. E.g. 6—Cramer’s Rule for a System with Two Variables Use Cramer’s Rule to solve the system.

46. E.g. 6—Cramer’s Rule for a System with Two Variables For this system, we have:

47. E.g. 6—Cramer’s Rule for a System with Two Variables The solution is:

48. Cramer’s Rule Cramer’s Rule can be extended to apply to any system of n linear equations in n variables in which the determinant of the coefficient matrix is not zero.

49. Cramer’s Rule As we saw in the preceding section, any such system can be written in matrix form as:

50. Cramer’s Rule By analogy with our derivation of Cramer’s Rule in the case of two equations in two unknowns, we let: D be the coefficient matrix in this system. D x i be the matrix obtained by replacing the ith column of D by the numbers b 1, b 2,..., b n that appear to the right of the equal sign. The solution of the system is then given by the following rule.

51. Cramer’s Rule Suppose a system of n linear equations in the n variables x 1, x 2,..., x n is equivalent to the matrix equation DX = B, and |D| ≠ 0. Then, its solutions are: where D x i is the matrix obtained by replacing the ith column of D by the n x 1 matrix B.

52. E.g. 7—Cramer’s Rule for a System of Three Variables Use Cramer’s Rule to solve the system. First, we evaluate the determinants that appear in Cramer’s Rule.

53. E.g. 7—Cramer’s Rule for a System of Three Variables Note that D is the coefficient matrix and that D x, D y, and D z are obtained by replacing the first, second, and third columns of D by the constant terms.

54. E.g. 7—Cramer’s Rule for a System of Three Variables Now, we use Cramer’s Rule to get the solution:

55. Cramer’s Rule Solving the system in Example 7 using Gaussian elimination would involve matrices whose elements are fractions with fairly large denominators. Thus, in cases like Examples 6 and 7, Cramer’s Rule gives us an efficient way to solve systems of linear equations.

56. Limitations of Cramer’s Rule However, in systems with more than three equations, evaluating the various determinants involved is usually a long and tedious task. This is unless you are using a graphing calculator.

57. Limitations of Cramer’s Rule Moreover, the rule doesn’t apply if |D| = 0 or if D is not a square matrix. So, Cramer’s Rule is a useful alternative to Gaussian elimination—but only in some situations.

58. Areas of Triangles Using Determinants

59. Determinants provide a simple way to calculate the area of a triangle in the coordinate plane.

60. Area of a Triangle If a triangle in the coordinate plane has vertices (a 1, b 1 ), (a 2, b 2 ), and (a 3, b 3 ), then its area is: where the sign is chosen to make the area positive.

61. E.g. 8—Area of a Triangle Find the area of the triangle shown. The vertices are: (1, 2), (3, 6), (–1, 4),

62. E.g. 8—Area of a Triangle Using the formula for the area of a triangle, we get: To make the area positive, we choose the negative sign in the formula. The area of the triangle is: area = –½(–12) = 6