Dawson College

Mathematics Department
Linear Algebra, 201-NYC-05, Winter 2020

Noushin Sabetghadam
———————————————————————————————–

2.1. Determinants by Cofactor Expansion

 
a b
Recall that the determinant of a 2 × 2 square matrix A = is a
c d 
a b
real number which is associated to A and denoted by either det(A) or  
c d
and it is defined by
 
a b
det(A) = ad − bc =   = ad − bc
c d

We also know that determinant is important because

det(A) 6= 0 if and only if A is invertible.

In this case, the formula for A−1 is given by

 
−1 1 d −b
A = .
det(A) −c a

In these notes we shall show how to compute the determinant of any n × n

matrix A with the use of a recursive formula. We shall also give a formula for
the inverse of A, whenever det(A) 6= 0.

How to Find Determinant by Cofactor Expansion

Definition. If A is a square matrix, then the minor of entry aij

is denoted by Mij and it is the determinant of the sub-matrix that
remains after the i-th row and the j-th column of A are deleted.
  
−1 0 2
Example 1) Find the minors of all the entries of A =  3 7 1 .
−9 5 4
     
7 1  3 1  3 7
M11 =   −9 4  = 21,
 = 23, M12 =   M13 =   = 78,
5 4 −9 5 
     
0 2  −1 2   −1 0 
M21 =   = −10, M22 =   = −5,
 −9 4  = 14, M23 = 

5 4 −9 5 
     
0 2  −1 2   −1 0 
 = −14, M32 = 
M31 =   3 1  = −7, M33 =  3 7  = −7.
  
7 1
 
3 0 −1
Example 2) Find the minors M23 and M31 of the matrix  7 0 2 
9 7 −5

Definition. The number (−1)i+jMij is denoted by Cij and it is

called the cofactor of entry aij .

Example 3) Find the cofactors of all the entries for the matrix in Example 1).

C11 = (−1)1+1 M11 = 23, C12 = (−1)1+2 M12 = −21, C13 = (−1)1+3 M13 = 78,

C21 = 10, C22 = 14, C23 = 5,

C31 = −14, C32 = 7, C33 = −7.

Remark. Note that the cofactor of an entry is either the same as the minor
of that entry or its opposite. The signs can be obtained by (−1)i+j or simply
by using the following pattern:
 
+ − + − + ···
 − + − + − ··· 
 
 + − + − + ··· 
 − + − + − ··· 
 
.. .. .. .. .. . . .
. . . . .
 Definition. The determinant of an 3×3 matrix A can be computed
by multiplying the entries in any rows (or column) by their cofactors
and adding the resulting products. For example, the cofactor expansion
along the first row is:

det(A) = a11C11 + a12C12 + a13C13;

and the cofactor expansion along the second column:

det(A) = a12C12 + a22C22 + a32C32

This method of evaluation determinant is called Cofactor Expansion. We

can choose any row or any column in order to find the determinant because all
of them give the same result.

Example 4) Use cofactor expansion to evaluate the determinant of the given

matrix in Example 1).
As we mentioned above you can use the cofactor expansion along any row
or column. Let’s choose the first row first:

det(A) = −1(23) + 0(−21) + 2(78) = −23 + 156 = 133.

Now let us do the same process along the second column:

det(A) = 0(−21) + 7(14) + 5(7) = 98 + 35 = 133.

In general, the determinant of any n×n matrix A can be computed

by the cofactor expansion along either any of its rows or any
of its columns. For example, cofactor expansion along the first row:
det(A) = a11 C11 + a12 C12 + · · · + a1n C1n
Example 5) Find the determinants of the following matrices:
 
  3 0 −1 6
3 −1 6 7 0 2 0 
A =  7 2 0 , B =   9 7 −5 8  .

3 −2 −1
3 0 −2 −1
We find the determinants by expansion along a column or a row which has the
most number of zero entries, so
   
7 2   3 −1 
 − 1
det(A) = 6   7 2  = 6(−20) − (13) = −133,

3 −2 
 
 3 −1 6 
det(B) = 7 · (−1)3+2  7 2 0  = 7(133) = 931.
 
 3 −2 −1 

The following two results are immediate.

Theorem. Let A be a square matrix, then

(a) det(A) = det(AT ).
(b) If A has a row or a column of zeros, then det(A) = 0.

Example 6) Show that the determinant of a diagonal matrix is the product

of the entries on the main diagonal; in particular det(I) = 1.
In order to demonstrate this, let us take a 4 × 4 diagonal matrix:
 
a 0 0 0
0 b 0 0
A=  0 0 c 0 .


0 0 0 d
 
b 0 0  
  c 0
Then det(A) = a  0 c 0  = ab   = abcd.
0 0 d 0 d 

By using the determinant of diagonal matrices we have det(In ) = 1.

Example 7) Show that the determinant of a triangular matrix is the product

of the entries on its main diagonal.
We will verify this for a 4 × 4 lower triangular matrix. The idea of the proof
can be generalized to any n × n triangular matrix. Let
 
a11 0 0 0
 a21 a22 0 0 
A=  a31 a32 a33 0  .


a41 a42 a43 a44

Then by cofactor expansion along the first row we will have:

 
 a22 0 0   
   a33 0 
det(A) = a11  a32 a33 0  = a11 a22   = a11 a22 a33 a44 .
 a42 a43 a44  a 43 a44


Similarly, we can show that the determinant of an upper triangular matrix is

the product of the entries on its main diagonal, namely
 
 a11 a12 a13 a14 
 
 0 a22 a23 a24 
 0 0 a33 a34  = a11 a22 a33 a44 .
 
 
 0 0 0 a44