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2.2 Determinants Row Reduction

The document discusses using row reduction to evaluate determinants of square matrices. It shows that elementary row operations, such as multiplying a row by a constant or adding a multiple of one row to another, do not change the determinant. The same is true for elementary column operations. The determinant of a matrix with proportional rows or columns is equal to 0. Examples are provided to demonstrate evaluating determinants using this row reduction method.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
156 views4 pages

2.2 Determinants Row Reduction

The document discusses using row reduction to evaluate determinants of square matrices. It shows that elementary row operations, such as multiplying a row by a constant or adding a multiple of one row to another, do not change the determinant. The same is true for elementary column operations. The determinant of a matrix with proportional rows or columns is equal to 0. Examples are provided to demonstrate evaluating determinants using this row reduction method.

Uploaded by

Chloe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Dawson College

Mathematics Department
Linear Algebra, 201-NYC-05, Winter 2020
Noushin Sabetghadam
———————————————————————————————–
2.1. Determinants by Row Reduction
In this section we shall show that the determinant of a square matrix can be
evaluated by reducing the matrix to its corresponding row-echelon form which is
a triangular matrix. So we should show that how an elementary row operation
affects the value of the determinants. Let
 
a1 a2 a3
A =  b1 b2 b3  .
c1 c2 c3
 
ka1 ka2 ka3
(a) If B =  b1 b2 b3  , then det(B) = k det(A). This is the same as
c1 c2 c3

ka1 ka2 ka3 a1 a2 a3

b1 b2 b3 = k b1 b2 b3 .

c1 c2 c3 c1 c2 c3

 
a1 a2 a3
(b) If C =  c1 c2 c3  , then det(C) = − det(A). This is the same as
b1 b2 b3

a1 a2 a3 a1 a2 a3

c1 c2 c3 = − b1 b2 b3 .

b1 b2 b3 c1 c2 c3

 
a1 + kb1 a2 + kb2 a3 + kb3
(c) If D =  b1 b2 b3  , then det(D) = det(A). This is the
c1 c2 c3
same as
a1 + kb1 a2 + kb2 a3 + kb3 a1 a2 a3


b 1 b 2 b 3
b b
1 2 3 .
= b
c1 c2 c3 c1 c2 c3
 
−1 3 2
Example 8) Use row reduction to find the determinant of A =  1 −2 −1  .
0 3 −4

−1 3 2 1 −2 −1 1 −2 −1

det(A) = 1 −2 −1 = − −1 3 2 = − 0 1 1 =
0 3 −4 0 3 −4 0 3 −4

1 −2 −1

= − 0 1 1 = 7
0 0 −7

Theorem. Let A be a square matrix with two proportional rows


(or two proportional columns), then det(A) = 0.

Proof. Without loss of generality, let the second row be a multiple of the
first row
· · · a1n
 
a11 a12
 ka11 ka12 · · · ka1n 
A=  ... .. .. ..  .
. . . 
an1 an2 · · · ann
So we have
a1 a2 a3 a4

ka1 ka2 ka3 ka4
det(A) =
1b b 2 b 3 b 4

c1 c2 c3 c4


a1 a2 a3 a4

ka1 − ka1 ka2 − ka2 ka3 − ka3 ka4 − ka4
=
b1 b2 b3 b4

c1 c2 c3 c4

a1 a2 a3 a4

0 0 0 0
= = 0.
b 1 b 2 b 3 b 4


c1 c2 c3 c4
Example 9) Show that

−1 3 −2 7
12 −2 3
13 6 0 9
= 0, 3 2 −3 = 0
3 9 1 5
7 4 −6
2 −6 4 −14

Solution: Because in the first matrix the first row and the fourth row are
proportional, and in the second one the second column and the third column
are proportional.
 
0 1 5
Example 10)Use row reduction to evaluate det(A) where A =  3 −6 9  .
2 6 1

0 1 5 3 −6 9 1 −2 3

det(A) = 3 −6 9 = − 0 1 5 = −3 0 1 5 =
2 6 1 2 6 1 2 6 1

1 −2 3 1 −2 3

= −3 0 1 5 = −3 0 1 5 = −3(−55) = 165.
0 10 −5 0 0 −55

Elementary Column Operations


Similar to the elementary row operations, we have elementary column oper-
ations which can be used to evaluate det(A) where A is a square matrix. These
operations affect the value of the determinant as follows:

a1 ka2 a3 a1 a2 a3

b1 kb2 b3 = k b1 b2 b3

c1 kc2 c3 c1 c2 c3

a2 a1 a3 a1 a2 a3

b2 b1 b3 = − b1 b2 b3

c2 c1 c3 c1 c2 c3


a1 a2 a3 + ka1 a1 a2 a3


b1 b2 b3 + kb1 = b1 b2 b3

c1 c2 c3 + kc1 c1 c2 c3
Example 11) Let A be a square matrix of order n and k is a scalar. Then

(a) If A is an elementary matrix obtained by interchanging two rows, then


det(A) =

(b) If A is an elementary matrix obtained by multiplying a row through by


k, then det(A) =

(c) If A is an elementary matrix obtained by adding a multiple of a row to


another row, then det(A) =

(d) det(kA) =


a1 a2 a3

Example 12) Assume b1 b2 b3 = 5. Evaluate
c1 c2 c3

−4c1 −2a2 −4c2 −4c3
−4c1 −4c 2 −4c 3

a1 + 3c1 a2 + 3c2 a3 + 3c3 and a1 + 3c1 3a1 a2 + 3c2 a3 + 3c3

.

a1 − 2b1 a2 − 2b2 a3 − 2b3

0 2c1 0 0

a1 − 2b1 2c1 a2 − 2b2 a3 − 2b3

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