Matrices & Determinant

Matrices and Determinants

As for everything else, so for a mathematical theory,
beauty can be perceived but not explained..... Cayley Arthur

Any rectangular arrangement of numbers (real or complex) (or of real valued or complex valued
expressions) is called a matrix. If a matrix has m rows and n columns then the order of matrix is
written as m × n and we call it as order m by n
The general m × n matrix is

 a11 a12 a13 ...... a1j ..... a1n 

 
 a 21 a 22 a 23 ...... a 2 j ..... a 2n 
 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 
A=  
 a i1 a i2 a i3 ...... a ij ...... a in 
 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 
 
a m1 am2 a m3 ..... a mj ..... a mn 

where aij denote the element of ith row & j th column. The above matrix is usually denoted as [aij] m × n .

Notes :
(i) The elements a11, a22, a33,........ are called as diagonal elements. Their sum is called as
trace of A denoted as tr(A)

(ii) Capital letters of English alphabets are used to denote matrices.

(iii) Order of a matrix : If a matrix has m rows and n columns, then we say that its order is "m by n",
written as "m × n".

Row matrix : A matrix having only one row is called as row matrix (or row vector).General form of row matrix
is A = [a11, a12, a13, ...., a1n]

This is a matrix of order "1 × n" (or a row matrix of order n)

Column matrix : A matrix having only one column is called as column matrix (or column vector).

 a11 
 
a 21 
Column matrix is in the form A = 
... 
 
a m1 
This is a matrix of order "m × 1" (or a column matrix of order m)

Square matrix : A matrix in which number of rows & columns are equal is called a square matrix. The general
form of a square matrix is

 a11 a12 ....... a1n 

 
a 21 a 22 ........ a 2n 
A =  which we denote as A = [aij]n.
....... ....... ....... .......
 
 an1 a n2 ....... a nn 
This is a matrix of order "n × n" (or a square matrix of order n)
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Zero matrix : A = [aij]m × n is called a zero matrix, if aij = 0  i & j.

0 0 0
0 0 0  
e.g. : (i)   (ii)  0 0 0 
0 0 0
 0 0 0 

Upper triangular matrix : A = [aij]m × n is said to be upper triangular, if aij = 0 for i > j (i.e., all the elements
below the diagonal elements are zero).

a b c d a b c 
 
e.g. : (i)  0 x y z  (ii)  0 x y 
 0 0 u v   0 0 z 

Lower triangular matrix : A = [aij]m × n is said to be a lower triangular matrix, if aij = 0 for i < j. (i.e., all the
elements above the diagonal elements are zero.)

a 0 0 a 0 0 0
   
b c 0 b c 0 0
e.g. : (i)  (ii) 
 x y z   x y z 0 

Diagonal matrix : A square matrix [aij]n is said to be a diagonal matrix if aij = 0 for i  j. (i.e., all the
elements of the square matrix other than diagonal elements are zero)
Note : Diagonal matrix of order n is denoted as Diag (a11, a22, ......ann).

 a 0 0 0
a 0 0  
   0 b 0 0
0 b 0
e.g. : (i)  (ii)  0 0 0 0
 0 0 c   
 0 0 0 c 

Scalar matrix : Scalar matrix is a diagonal matrix in which all the diagonal elements are
same. A = [aij]n is a scalar matrix, if (i) aij = 0 for i  j and (ii) aij = k for i = j.

a 0 0
a 0  
0 a 0
e.g. : (i)   (ii) 
0 a  0 0 a 

Unit matrix (identity matrix) : Unit matrix is a diagonal matrix in which all the diagonal elements are unity.
Unit matrix of order 'n' is denoted by n (or ).
i.e. A = [aij]n is a unit matrix when aij = 0 for i  j & aii = 1

1 0 0
 1 0  
eg. 2 =   , 3 = 0 1 0 .
0 1 0 0 1
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Comparable matrices : Two matrices A & B are said to be comparable, if they have the same order
(i.e., number of rows of A & B are same and also the number of columns).

2 3 4 3 4 2
e.g. : (i) A =   & B=   are comparable
 3 1 2  0 1 3

3 0
2 3 4  
4 1
e.g. : (ii) C =   & D=  are not comparable
 3 1 2   2 3 

Equality of matrices : Two matrices A and B are said to be equal if they are comparable and all the
corresponding elements are equal.
Let A = [aij] m × n & B = [bij]p × q
A = B iff (i) m = p, n = q
(ii) aij = bij  i & j.

 sin  1/ 2  1/ 2 sin  

   
Illustration # 1 : Let A =  1/ 2 cos   & B = cos  cos  . Find  so that A = B.
 cos  tan   cos   1 
   
Solution : By definition A & B are equal if they have the same order and all the corresponding elements
are equal.
1 1
Thus we have sin  = , cos = – & tan  = – 1
2 2


  = (2n + 1) – .
4

Multiplication of matrix by scalar : Let  be a scalar (real or complex number) & A = [aij]m × n be a matrix.
Thus the product A is defined as A = [bij]m × n where bij = aij  i & j.

 2 1 3 5    6 3  9  15 
   
e.g. : A =  0 2 1  3 & – 3A  (–3) A =  0  6  3 9 
 0 0  1  2   0 0 3 6 

Note : If A is a scalar matrix, then A = , where  is a diagonal entry of A

Addition of matrices : Let A and B be two matrices of same order (i.e. comparable matrices). Then A + B is
defined to be.
A + B = [aij]m × n + [bij]m × n.
= [cij]m × n where cij = aij + bij  i & j.

 1 1   1 2  0 1
     
2 3  , B =  2 3 , A + B =  0 0 
e.g. : A = 
 1 0   5 7   6 7 
 Matrices & Determinant

Substraction of matrices : Let A & B be two matrices of same order. Then A – B is defined as A + (– B)
where – B is (– 1) B.

Properties of addition & scalar multiplication : Consider all matrices of order m × n, whose elements
are from a set F (F denote Q, R or C).
Let Mm × n (F) denote the set of all such matrices.
Then
(a) A  Mm × n (F) & B  Mm × n (F)  A + B  Mm × n(F)
(b) A+B=B+A
(c) (A + B) + C = A + (B + C)
(d) O = [o]m × n is the additive identity.
(e) For every A  Mm × n(F), – A is the additive inverse.
(f)  (A + B) = A + B
(g) A = A
(h) (1 + 2) A = 1A + 2A

Multiplication of matrices : Let A and B be two matrices such that the number of columns of A is same as
number of rows of B. i.e., A = [aij]m × p & B = [bij]p × n.
p
Then AB = [cij]m × n where cij = a
k 1
ik b kj , which is the dot product of ith row vector of A and j th

column vector of B.

0 1 1 1
1 2 3   3 4 9 1
0 0 1 0
e.g. : A =   , B=  , AB =  
2 3 1  1 1 2 0  1 3 7 2

Notes : (1) The product AB is defined iff the number of columns of A is equal to the number of rows
/ BA is
of B. A is called as premultiplier & B is called as post multiplier. AB is defined 
defined.
(2) In general AB  BA, even when both the products are defined.
(3) A (BC) = (AB) C, whenever it is defined.

Properties of matrix multiplication : Consider all square matrices of order 'n'. Let Mn (F) denote the
set of all square matrices of order n. (where F is Q, R or C).
Then
(a) A, B  Mn (F)  AB  Mn (F)
(b) In general AB  BA
(c) (AB) C = A(BC)
(d) n, the identity matrix of order n, is the multiplicative identity.
An = A = n A  A  Mn (F)
(e) For every non singular matrix A (i.e., |A|  0) of Mn (F) there exist a unique (particular)
matrix B  Mn (F) so that AB = n = BA. In this case we say that A & B are multiplicative
inverse of one another. In notations, we write B = A–1 or A = B–1.
(f) If  is a scalar (A) B = (AB) = A(B).
(g) A(B + C) = AB + AC  A, B, C  Mn (F)
(h) (A + B) C = AC + BC  A, B, C  Mn (F).