Determinants

Determinants are the scalar quantities obtained by the sum of

products of the elements of a square matrix and their cofactors
according to a prescribed rule. They help to find the adjoint, inverse
of a matrix. Further to solve the linear equations through the matrix
inversion method we need to apply this concept. The cross-product
of two vectors is remembered easily through the calculation of
determinants.

In this article, let's learn more about the process of finding

determinants of different orders and their properties, and we will
work on a few solved examples.

What Are Determinants?

Determinants are considered as a scaling factor of matrices. They
can be considered as functions of stretching out and the shrinking in
of the matrices. Determinants take a square matrix as the input and
return a single number as its output.

Determinants Definition

For every square matrix, C = [

𝑐𝑖𝑗
] of order n×n, a determinant can be defined as a scalar value that is
real or a complex number, where
𝑐𝑖𝑗
is the (i, j)th element of matrix C. The determinant can be denoted as
det(C) or |C|, here the determinant is written by taking the grid of
numbers and arranging them inside the absolute-value bars instead
of using square brackets.

Consider a matrix C =
:
 ⎡1 2⎤
⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ 3 4 ⎥⎦

Then, its determinant can be shown as:

|C| =
|1 2|
| |
|3 4|
| |

How To Calculate Determinant?

For the simplest square matrix of order 1×1 matrix, which only has
only one number, the determinant becomes the number itself. Let's
learn how to calculate the determinants for the second order, third
order, and fourth-order matrices.

Calculating Determinant of 2x2 Matrix

For any 2x2 square matrix or a square matrix of order 2×2, we can
use the determinant formula to calculate its determinant:

C=
⎡𝑎 𝑏⎤
⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ 𝑐 𝑑 ⎥⎦

Its 2x2 determinant can be calculated as:

|C| =
|| 𝑎 𝑏 ||
|𝑐 𝑑|
| |
= (a×d) - (b×c)

For example: C =
⎡8 6⎤
⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ 3 4 ⎥⎦
:
 Its determinant can be calculated as:

|C| =
|8 6|
| |
|3 4|
| |

|C| = (8×4) - (6×3) = 32 - 18 = 14

Calculating Determinant of 3x3 Matrix

For any 3x3 square matrix or a square matrix of order 3×3,

⎡𝑎 𝑏 𝑐 ⎤
⎢ 1 1 1 ⎥
𝐶 = ⎢ 𝑎2 𝑏2 𝑐2 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎣ 𝑎3 𝑏3 𝑐3 ⎦
, the determinant is represented as:

|C| (or) det C =

|| 𝑎 𝑏 𝑐 ||
1 1
| 1 |
| 𝑎2 𝑏2 𝑐2 |
| |
|𝑎 𝑏 𝑐 |
|| 3 3 3 ||

Here are the steps in calculating the determinant of a 3x3 matrix.

a1 is fixed as the anchor number and the 2x2 determinant of its

sub-matrix (minor of a1).
Similarly, calculate the minors of b1 and c1.
Keep multiplying the small determinant by the anchor number
and by its sign
| + − + |
| |
| − + − |
| |
|| + − + ||
Finally sum them up.

|C| =
:
 |𝑏 𝑐 | |𝑎 𝑐 | |𝑎 𝑏 |
| 2 2 | | 2 |
𝑎1 ⋅ | | − 𝑏1 ⋅ || 𝑎2 𝑐2 || + 𝑐1 ⋅| 2 |
| 𝑏3 𝑐3 | | 3 3 | | 𝑎3 𝑏3 |
| | | |

|C| =
𝑎1 (𝑏2 𝑐3 − 𝑏3 𝑐2 ) − 𝑏1 (𝑎2 𝑐3 − 𝑎3 𝑐2 ) + 𝑐1 (𝑎2 𝑏3 − 𝑎3 𝑏2 )

Let's consider this example:

⎡3 1 1⎤
⎢ ⎥
𝐵 = ⎢ 4 −2 5 ⎥
⎢⎣ 2 8 7 ⎥⎦

Its determinant is calculated as:

|B| =
|3 1 1|
| |
| 4 −2 5 |
| |
|2 8 7|
| |

=
| | | | | |
3 ⋅ || −2 5 || − 1 ⋅ || 4 5 || + 1 ⋅ || 4 −2 ||
| 8 7| |2 7| |2 8 |

= 3 × ((-2)(7) - (5)(8)) -1 × ((4)(7) - (5)(2)) + 1 × ((4)(8) - (-2)(2))

= 3 × ((-14) - (40)) -1 × ((28) - (10)) + 1 × ((32) - (-4))

= 3 × (-54) -1 × (18) + 1 × (36)

= - 162 - 18 + 36

= -144

Note that we have calculated the determinant of a 3x3 matrix using

the first row here. But any row/any column can be used to calculate
the determinants.
:
 Calculating the Determinant of a 4×4 Matrix

Consider the below mentioned 4x4 square matrix or a square matrix

of order 4×4, the following changes are to be kept in mind while
finding the determinant of a 4×4 matrix:

B=
⎡𝑎 𝑏1 𝑐1 𝑑1 ⎤
⎢ 1 ⎥
⎢ 𝑎2 𝑏2 𝑐2 𝑑2 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ 𝑎3 𝑏3 𝑐3 𝑑3 ⎥
⎢⎣ 𝑎4 𝑏4 𝑐4 𝑑4 ⎥⎦

plus a1 times the determinant of the 3x3 matrix obtained by

deleting the row and the column containing a1
minus b1 times the determinant of the 3x3 matrix obtained by
deleting the row and the column containing b1
plus c1 times the determinant of the 3x3 matrix obtained by
deleting the row and the column containing c1
minus d1 times the determinant of the 3x3 matrix obtained by
deleting the row and the column containing d1

|| 𝑏 𝑐 𝑑 || || 𝑎 𝑐 𝑑 ||
2 2 2 2
| | | 2 2 |
|𝐵| = 𝑎1 ⋅ || 𝑏3 𝑐3 𝑑3 || − 𝑏1 ⋅ || 𝑎3 𝑐3 𝑑3 ||
|𝑏 𝑐 𝑑 | |𝑎 𝑐 𝑑 |
|| 4 4 4 || || 4 4 4 ||
|𝑎 𝑏 𝑑 | |𝑎 𝑏 𝑐 |
| 2 2 2 | | 2 2 2 |
| | | |
+ 𝑐1 ⋅ || 𝑎3 𝑏3 𝑑3 || − 𝑑1 ⋅ || 𝑎3 𝑏3 𝑐3 |
|
|𝑎 𝑏 𝑑 | |𝑎 𝑏 𝑐 |
|| 4 4 4 || || 4 4 4 ||

We can use the method mentioned in the previous section to find the
determinant of the 3×3 matrices. Here is an easy way of finding it.
:
 Multiplication of Determinants
We use a method called as multiplication of arrays to multiply two
determinants of square matrices. Let us see the row by column
multiplication rule to multiply two determinants of the square
matrices A and B:

Multiplication of 2×2 Determinants

Consider two square matrices A and B of order 2×2, we first denote

their respective determinants as |A| and |B| as shown below:

|A| =
|| a b ||
| 1 1
|
| a2 b2 |
| |

|B| =
|p q |
| 1 |
| p q1 |
| 2 |
| 2 |

|A| × |B| =
:
 | a b | | 𝑝 q | || a 1 𝑝 + b 1 𝑝 a 1 q + b 1 q ||
| 1 1 | | 1 | 1 2
| | × | 𝑝 q 1 | = || 1 2 |
| a2 b2 | | 2 | | a 2 𝑝 + b 2 𝑝 a 2 q + b 2 q ||
| | | 2 |
| 1 2 1 2 |

Multiplication of 3×3 Determinants

Consider two matrices C and D of order 3×3, we first denote their

respective determinants as |C| and |D| as shown below:

|C| =
|𝑎 𝑏 𝑐 |
| 1 1 1 |
| |
| 𝑎2 𝑏2 𝑐2 |
| |
|𝑎 𝑏 𝑐 |
|| 3 3 3 ||

|D| =
| 𝑝1 𝑞1 𝑟1 |
| |
|𝑝 𝑞 𝑟 |
| 2 2 2 |
| |
| 𝑝3 𝑞3 𝑟3 |
| |

|C| × |D| =
|| 𝑎 𝑝 + 𝑏 𝑝 + 𝑐 𝑝 𝑎 𝑞 + 𝑏 𝑞 + 𝑐 𝑞 𝑎 𝑟 + 𝑏 𝑟 + 𝑐 𝑟 ||
1 1 1 2 1 3 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 1 1 2 1 3
| |
| 𝑎2 𝑝 + 𝑏2 𝑝 + 𝑐2 𝑝 𝑎2 𝑞 + 𝑏2 𝑞 + 𝑐2 𝑞 𝑎2 𝑟1 + 𝑏2 𝑟2 + 𝑐2 𝑟3 |
| 1 2 3 1 2 3 |
| |
| 𝑎3 𝑝 + 𝑏3 𝑝 + 𝑐3 𝑝 𝑎3 𝑞 + 𝑏3 𝑞 + 𝑐3 𝑞 𝑎3 𝑟1 + 𝑏3 𝑟2 + 𝑐3 𝑟3 |
|| 1 2 3 1 2 3 ||

These are some of the points to be remembered while multiplying

two determinants:

In order to multiply two determinants, we need to make sure

that both are of the same order
The value of the determinant does not change when rows and
columns are interchanged, so we can also follow column by row,
row by row, or column by column multiplication rules to multiply
two determinants.
:
 Properties of Determinants
For square matrices of different types, when its determinant is
calculated, they are calculated based on certain important properties
of the determinants. Here is the list of some of the important
properties of the determinants:

Property1: "The determinant of an identity matrix is always 1"

Consider the determinant of an identity matrix I =

⎡1 0⎤
⎢ ⎥
⎣⎢ 0 1 ⎦⎥
, |I| = (1)(1) - (0)(0) = 1.

Thus, the determinant of any identity matrix is always 1.

Property 2: "If any square matrix B with order n×n has a zero row or
a zero column, then det(B) = 0"

Consider the determinant of an identity matrix B,

|B| =
|2 2|
| |
|0 0|
| |

|B| = (2)(0) - (2)(0) = 0

Here, the square matrix B has one zero row, and thus, the
determinant of this square matrix becomes zero.

Property 3: "If C is upper or a lower-triangular matrix, then det(C) is

the product of all its diagonal entries"

Consider an upper triangular matrix C with the diagonal entries 3, 2

and 4. The determinant |C| can be found as:
:
 |C| =
|3 1 1|
| |
|0 2 5|
| |
|0 0 4|
| |

|C| = 3 × 2 × 4 = 24

Property 4: "If D is a square matrix, then if its row is multiplied by a

constant k, then the constant can be taken out of the determinant"

|D| = |D| = k ×
|| 𝑘 × 𝑎 𝑘 × 𝑏 || || 𝑎 𝑏 ||
| 𝑐 𝑑 || |𝑐 𝑑|
| | |
|D| = |D| = 2 ×
|| 2 4 || || 1 2 ||
| | | |
|| 1 5 || || 1 5 ||

= (2)(5) - (4)(1) = 2 × ((1)(5) - (2)(1))

= 10 - 4 = 6 = 2 × (5-2) = 2 × 3 = 6

Thus, the determinant remains the same in both cases.

Other important properties of determinants are:

A square matrix C is considered to be invertible if and only if

det(C) ≠ 0.
If B and C are two square matrices with order n × n, then
det(BC) = det(B) × det(C) = det(C) × det(B)
The relationship between a determinant of a matrix D and its
adjoint adj(D) can be shown as D × adj(D) = adj(D) × D = |D| × I.
Here, D is a square matrix and I is an identity matrix.

Rules For Operations on Determinant

The following rules are helpful to perform the row and column
operations on determinants.
:
 The value of the determinant remains unchanged if the rows
and columns are interchanged.
The sign of the determinant changes, if any two rows or (two
columns) are interchanged.
If any two rows or columns of a matrix are equal, then the value
of the determinant is zero.
If every element of a particular row or column is multiplied by a
constant, then the value of the determinant also gets multiplied
by the constant.
If the elements of a row or a column are expressed as a sum of
elements, then the determinant can be expressed as a sum of
determinants.
If the elements of a row or column are added or subtracted with
the corresponding multiples of elements of another row or
column, then the value of the determinant remains unchanged.

Important Notes on Determinant:

Here is a list of a few points that should be remembered while

studying determinant:

A determinant can be considered as function that takes a

square matrix as the input and returns a single number as its
output.
A square matrix can be defined as a matrix that has an equal
number of rows and columns.
For the simplest square matrix of order 1×1 matrix, which only
has only one number, the determinant becomes the number
itself.

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