Chapter 4

Determinants and Inverse

4.1 Determinants

Definition 4.1.1 The determinant of a matrix is a scalar value and can

only be found for square matrices. The determinant for a matrix A is
typically denoted as |A|.

• if |A| =
̸ 0 then the matrix A is said to be nonsingular
• if |A| = 0 then the matrix A is said to be singular

The definition of determinants can be viewed as a function that measures

the size of the region enclosed by the vectors in the matrix

4.1.1 Determinant of a 2 × 2 Matrix

A determinant for a 2 × 2 Matrix is often referred to as A determinant of order
2. Most of us would have already been introduced to the determinant of a 2 × 2
Matrix and so this is basically just
 a revision.

a11 a12
Consider a the matrix A = the determinant for said matrix is
a21 a22
a11 a12
represented as |A| = = a11 a22 − a12 a21
a21 a22

5 3
Example 4.1.1 Evaluate
4 6

Solution 4.1.1

45
46 CHAPTER 4. DETERMINANTS AND INVERSE

Geometric Interpretation

 
a11 a12
If we consider a 2 × 2 Matrix A = and use the row vectors and
a21 a22
draw those vectors on a graph to show a parallelogram. The determinant can
be shown to be the area of the parallelogram formed by the row vectors.

(a11 + a21 , a12 + a22 )

(a11 , a12 )

(a21 , a22 )
x

Figure 4.1: The Shaded area represents the determinant

Figure 4.2: Demonstration of how to find the area of the shaded region

A similar demonstration can be done for a 3 × 3 Matrix. the only difference

is we are not finding the area but the volume of the Parallelepiped formed.
4.1. DETERMINANTS 47

4.1.2 Minors and Cofactors

Definition 4.1.2 Let A be a n × n matrix

• the (ij) minor of the matrix A is the (n−1)×(n−1) matrix formed
by deleting the ith row and the j th column and is denoted as Aij .
• the (ij) cofactor of the matrix A is Cij = (−1)i+j |Aij |

A couple of things can be noted

1. To find Aij the algorithm requires us to delete the entries in the ith row
and the j th column and write back the remaining entries in matrix form
hence (n − 1) × (n − 1) matrix

2. To find the cofactor, notice that the fomula is a recursive formula partic-
ularly if the matrix is very large. aslo the cofactor can be seen as a scalar
value.

3. using a 3 × 3 matrix as example the (−1)i+j in the cofactor formula will

yield a matrix with the signs of each cofactor that looks like
 
+ − +
− + −
+ − +

 
2 6 4
Example 4.1.2 Given A = 6 −1 0 , compute A13 and C13
4 0 −3

Solution 4.1.2

4.1.3 Methods for Finding determinants for larger Matri-

ces
Laplace Expansion

This method is popular method for computing determinants in terms of their

cofactors.
48 CHAPTER 4. DETERMINANTS AND INVERSE

Definition 4.1.3 Let A be any n × n matrix

1. the cofactor expansion along any row i.e., i = 1, 2, · · · , n is
n
X
|A| = aij Cij = ai1 Ci1 + ai2 Ci2 + · · · + ain Cin
i=1

2. the cofactor expansion along any column i.e., j = 1, 2, · · · , n is

n
X
|A| = aij Cij = a1j C1j + a2j C2j + · · · + anj Cnj
i=1

Note that the above definition considers expansion across a row or along a
column. This means that we can select any row or column in order to evaluate
the determinant. If any row or column has more zeros than any other row
or column, it makes our live easier if use said row or column to evaluate the
determinant.

Example 4.1.3 Using Laplace Expansion, evaluate

2 6 4
|A| = 6 −1 0
4 0 −3

Elementary row operations to find determinants

Definition 4.1.4 If a matrix is in triangular form then the determinant

is obtained by multiplying the entries along the main diagonal.

This definition provides us with another method to finding determinants. It

is basically saying that given any n × n matrix we can use elementary row oper-
ations to find the equivalent matrix in triangular form to find the determinant.
There is one thing we have to be mindful of when using elemen-
tary row operations to find determinants. If we switch rows then it
changes the sign of the determinant and we would have to account
for that.

Example 4.1.4 Using elementary row operations,evaluate

2 6 4
|A| = 6 −1 0
4 0 −3
4.2. INVERSE OF A MATRIX 49

4.1.4 Important facts about Determinants

Unless otherwise stated any matrices in this section mentioned will be considered
a n × n matrices.

Theorem 4.1.1 (Properties of Determinants) 1. The determi-

nant of a matrix A and its transpose are equal: |A| = |A′ |.
2. The determinant of a matrix A is zero, and is called singular, if
any of the following conditions are true:

(a) A has a zero row (or column).

(b) A has two identical rows (or columns).
3. If B is a matrix obtained from A by elementary row operations,
then:

(a) If two rows (or columns) of A were interchanged, then |B| =

−|A|.
(b) If a row (or column) is multiplied by some constant α, then
|B| = α|A|.
(c) If a multiple of a row (or column) of A were added to another
row (or column), then |B| = |A|.
4. Let A and B be n × n matrices, then |AB| = |A||B|.
5. Let A be an n × n matrix, then |An | = |A|n .

6. For any matrix A and any scalar α, |αA| = αn |A|.

4.2 Inverse of a Matrix

One important application of finding the inverse of a matrix is when solving

systems of linear equations, in particular when solving square systems. Recall
when we introduced the systems of linear equation we had the form Ax = b.
We can appreciate that to solve have a regular equation such as ax = b, in
order to solve for x be will multiply both side by the multiplicative inverse a−1
and that will given x = a−1 b. The same thing can be done for Ax = b to get
x = A−1 b but instead of finding the inverse of a scalar we will find the inverse
of a matrix. At this point we want to introduce two methods for finding the
inverse of a matrix Adjoint method and the Gaussian elimination method.
50 CHAPTER 4. DETERMINANTS AND INVERSE

4.2.1 Adjoint of a Matrix

Definition 4.2.1 let A be a n × n matrix and Cij denote the cofactor

for entry aij in matrix A. The adjoint of a matrix, denoted adj(A), is
the transpose of the matrix of cofactors.

This definition requires us to find the cofactor for each entry and place those
cofactors in their corresponding place in a matrix and then find the transpose
of the resulting matrix of cofactors. It is important to note that the adjoint
matrix should also be of the same size.

Example 4.2.1 Find the adjoint matrix of the matrix

 
2 3 −4
A = 0 −4 2 
1 −1 5

4.2.2 Inverse using the Adjoint Matrix

Definition 4.2.2 Let A be any n × n matrix. Then

1
A−1 = (adjA)
|A|

Example 4.2.2 Find inverse of the matrix, using the adjoint method
 
2 3 −4
A = 0 −4 2 
1 −1 5

4.2.3 Inverse using Guassian Elimination method

Definition 4.2.3 Let A be any n × n matrix and I be an identity matrix

of the same size. Then

[A|I] ⇒ [I|A−1 ]

This definition requires us to perform elementary row operation on the ma-

trix A until it turns into the identity matrix. The elementary row operations
that we performed on the matrix A we need to perform on the identity matrix
I. Once we have completed the elementary row operations on I then that result
is the inverse A−1 .
4.3. REVISITING SYSTEMS OF EQUATIONS 51

Example 4.2.3 Find inverse of the matrix, using EROs

 
2 3 −4
A = 0 −4 2 
1 −1 5

Example 4.2.4 Let

 
a −b −c −d
b a −d c 
Q=
 .
c d b −b 
d −c b a

Compute QQ⊤ and find Q−1 if Q ̸= 0.

4.2.4 Properties of Inverse

Theorem 4.2.1 let A and B be n × n matrices. Then

1. A matrix A is invertible/nonsingular if |A| =

̸ 0
2. A−1 is invertible, then (A−1 )−1 = A
3. AB is invertible, then (AB)−1 = B −1 A−1

4. A′ is invertible, then (A′ )−1 = (A−1 )′

5. (cA)−1 = c−1 A−1 when c is a scalar
6. |A−1 | = 1
|A|

4.3 Revisiting Systems of Equations

Now that we have enough knowledge about Determinants and inverses we can
use this to solve square systems of linear equations.

Theorem 4.3.1 Suppose a system of n equations in n unknowns is writ-

ten in the form
Ax = b
If the coefficient matrix, A, is invertible then the system has a unique
solution
x = A−1 b
52 CHAPTER 4. DETERMINANTS AND INVERSE

Example 4.3.1 Use the inverse method to find the solution for the fol-
lowing system
3x + 4y + z = 1
2x + 3y + = 0
4x + 3y − z = −2

Definition 4.3.1 If A is an n × n invertible matrix, the solution to the

system
Ax = b
with n equations and n unknowns is given by

|A1 | |A2 | |An |

x1 = , x2 = , · · · , xn =
|A| |A| |A|

where for each k, |Ak | is the matrix obtained from A by replacing column
k by b.This is known as Cramer’s Rule

Example 4.3.2 Solve the following system using Cramer’s rule

3x + 4y + z = 1
2x + 3y + = 0
4x + 3y − z = −2

Exercise 4.3.1 1. Find the adjugate of each of the following matrices.

 
5 1 3
(a) −1 2 3
1 4 8
 
1 −1 2
(b) 3 1 0
0 −1 1
 
1 0 −1
(c) −1 1 0
0 −1 1
 
−1 2 2
(d)  2 −1 2
2 2 −1

2. Use determinants to find which real values of c make each of the following
matrices invertible.
4.3. REVISITING SYSTEMS OF EQUATIONS 53
 
1 0 3
(a) 3 −4 c 
2 5 8
 
0 c −c
(b) −1 2 1
c −c c
 
c 1 0
(c)  0 2 c
−1 c 5
 
4 c 3
(d) c 2 c
5 c 4
 
1 2 −1
(e) 0 −1 c 
2 c 1
 
1 c −1
(f ) c 1 1 
0 1 c
3.Find the inverse of each of the following matrices:

(a)  
1 −1
−1 3

(b)  
4 1
3 2

(c)  
1 0 −1
3 2 0
−1 −1 0

(d)  
1 −1 2
−5 7 −11
−2 3 −5

(e)  
3 5 0
3 7 1
1 2 1
54 CHAPTER 4. DETERMINANTS AND INVERSE

(f )  
3 1 −1
2 1 0
1 5 −1

(g)  
2 4 1
3 3 2
4 1 4

(h)  
3 1 −1
5 2 0
1 1 −1

(i)  
3 1 2
1 −1 3
1 2 4

(j)  
1 4 5 2
0
 0 0 −1
1 −2 −2 0
0 −1 −1 0

(k)  
1 0 7 5
0 1 3 6
 
1 −1 5 2
1 −1 5 1

(l)  
1 2 0 0 0
0 1 3 0 0
 
0 0 1 5 0
 
0 0 0 1 7
0 0 0 0 1

4. Let A, B, and C denote n × n matrices and assume that det A = −1,

det B = 2, and det C = 3. Evaluate:
(a) det(A3 BC T B −1 )
(b) det(B 2 C −1 AB −1 CT )
5. Let A and B be invertible n × n matrices. Evaluate:
(a) det(B −1 AB)
4.3. REVISITING SYSTEMS OF EQUATIONS 55

(b) det(A−1 B −1 AB)

6. If A is 3 × 3 and det(2A−1 ) = −4 = det(A3 (B −1 )T ), find det A and

det B.  
a b c
7. Let A =  p q r  and assume that det A = 3. Compute:
u v w
 
4u 2a −p
(a) det(2B −1 ) where B =  4v 2b −q 
4w 2c −r
 
2p −a + u 3u
(b) det(2C −1 ) where C = 2q −b + v 3v 
2r −c + w 3w
 
a b
8. If det = −2, calculate:
c d
 
2 −2 0
(a) det  c + 1 −1 2a
d − 2 2 2b
 
2b 0 4d
(b) det  1 2 1−2 
a + 1 2 2(c − 1)
 
−1 3c a + c
(c) det(3A ) where A =
3d b + d

9. Find A when
 
⊤ −1

2 1
a. I − 2A =
1 1
  −1  
1 −1 2 3
b. A =
0 1 1 1
 

⊤ 1 1
c. A−1 − 2I = −2
1 0

10. Solve each of the following by Cramer’s rule and the inverse method:
(
2x + y = 1
(a)
3x + 7y = −2
(
3x + 4y = 9
(b)
2x − y = −1
56 CHAPTER 4. DETERMINANTS AND INVERSE

5x + y − z = −7

(c) 2x − y − 2z = 6

3x + 2z = −7


4x − y + 3z = 1

(d) 6x + 2y − z = 0

3x + 3y + 2z = −1


11. Use the adjoint method to find the (2, 3)-entry of A−1 if:
 
3 2 1
(a) A =  1 1 2
−1 2 1
 
1 2 −1
(b) A = 3 1 1 
0 4 7
12. Explain what can be said about det A if:
(a) A2 = A
(b) A2 = I
(c) A3 = A
(d) P A = P and P is invertible
(e) A2 = uA and A is n × n
(f ) A = −AT and A is n × n
(g) A2 + I = 0 and A is n × n
13. Let A be n × n. Show that uA = (uI)A, and use this with Theorem 1 to
deduce the result in Theorem 3 Section 3.1: det(uA) = un det A.
14. If A and B are n × n matrices, AB = −BA, and n is odd, show that
either A or B has no inverse.
15. Show that det AB = det BA holds for any two n × n matrices A and B.
16. If Ak = 0 for some k ≥ 1, show that A is not invertible.
17. If A−1 = AT , describe the cofactor matrix of A in terms of A.
18. Show that no 3 × 3 matrix A exists such that A2 + I = 0. Find a 2 × 2
matrix A with this property.
19. Show that det(A + B T ) = det(AT + B) for any n × n matrices A and B.
20. Let A and B be invertible n × n matrices. Show that det A = det B if
and only if A = U B where U is a matrix with det U = 1.
21. For each of the matrices in Exercise 2, find the inverse for those values
of c for which it exists.
22. In each case either prove the statement or give an example showing that
it is false:
4.3. REVISITING SYSTEMS OF EQUATIONS 57

(a) If adjA exists, then A is invertible.

(b) If A is invertible and adjA = A−1 , then det A = 1.
(c) det(AB) = det(B T A).
(d) If det A ̸= 0 and AB = AC, then B = C.

(e) If AT = −A, then det A = −1.

(f ) If adjA = 0, then A = 0.
(g) If A is invertible, then adjA is invertible.

(h) If A has a row of zeros, so also does adjA.

(i) det(AT A) > 0.
(j) det(I + A) = 1 + det A.
(k) If AB is invertible, then A and B are invertible.

(l) If det A = 1, then adjA = A.

58 CHAPTER 4. DETERMINANTS AND INVERSE