1

Matrices. Determinants. Systems of linear

equations

Determinants

For every square matrix A = (aij ) i=1,n ∈ Mn (F) one can assign a scalar denoted
j=1,n
det(A) called the determinant of A. In extended form we write

a11 a12 · · · a1n

a21 a22 · · · a2n
det(A) = .. .. .. .. .
. . . .
an1 an2 · · · ann

Definition 1.1. Let A ∈ Mn (F). The determinant of A is the scalar defined by the
equation
X
det(A) = sgn (σ) a1σ(1) · a2σ(2) · . . . · anσ(n) .
σ∈Sn

A method of calculating determinants is called row expansion and column ex-

pansion and it is derrived from Laplace Theorem.

1
Matrices. Determinants. Systems of linear equations 2

Corolary 1.2. Let A ∈ Mn (F). Then

Pn
(i) det(A) = k=1 aik Aki , (expansion by row i)
Pn
(ii) det(A) = k=1 akj Ajk , (expansion by column j).

Let A ∈ Mn (F) and let k be an integer, 1 ≤ k ≤ n. Consider the rows i1 . . . ik

and the columns j1 . . . jk of A. By deleting the other rows and columns we obtain a
submatrix of A of order k, whose determinant is called a minor of A and is denoted
by Mij11...i
...jk
k
.

Properties of the determinant.

Let A, B ∈ Mn (F) and let a ∈ F. Then

(1) det(A> ) = det(A).

(2) A permutation of the rows, (respectively columns) of A multiplies the

determinant by the sign of the permutation.

(3) A determinant with two equal rows (or two equal columns) is zero.

(4) The determinant of A is not changed if a multiple of one row (or column) is
added to another row (or column).

(5) det(A−1 ) = 1
det(A)
.

(6) det(AB) = det(A) det(B).

(7) det(aA) = an det(A).

(8) If A is a triangular matrix, i.e. aij = 0 whenever i > j (aij = 0 whenever

i < j), then its determinant equals the product of the diagonal entries, that
is det(A) = a11 · a22 · . . . · ann = ni=1 aii .
Q
Matrices. Determinants. Systems of linear equations 3

Rank of a matrix

Rank. Elementary transformations.

A natural number r is called the rank of the matrix A ∈ Mm,n (F) if

1. There exists a square submatrix M ∈ Mr (F) of A which is nonsingular (that

is det(M ) 6= 0).

2. If p > r, for every submatrix N ∈ Mp (F) of A one has det(N ) = 0.

We denote rang (A) = r.

Definition 1.3. The following operations are called elementary row

transformations on the matrix A ∈ Mm,n (F):

1. Interchanging of any two rows.

2. Multiplication of a row by any non-zero number.

3. The addition of one row to another.

Similarly one can define the elementary column transformations.

We use elementary transformation in order to compute the rank.
Namely, given a matrix A ∈ Mm,n (F) we transform it by an appropriate succession
of elementary transformations- into a matrix B such that

• the diagonal entries of B are either 0 or 1, all the 1’s preceding all the 0’s on
the diagonal.

• all the other entries of B are 0.

Since the rank is invariant under elementary transformations, we have

rang (A) = rang (B), but it is clear that the rank of B is equal to the number of 1’s
on the diagonal.
Matrices. Determinants. Systems of linear equations 4

Matrix Invertion

For a square matrix A ∈ Mn (F), the matrix B ∈ Mn (F) that satisfies

AB = In and BA = In

(if exists) is called the inverse of A and is denoted by B = A−1 . Not all square
matrices admits an inverse (are invertible). An invertible square matrix is called
nonsingular and a square matrix with no inverse is called singular matrix.

Theorem 1.4. If a square matrix is reduced to the identity matrix by a sequence of

elementary row operations, the same sequence of elementary row transformations
performed on the identity matrix produces the inverse of the given matrix.

Systems of linear equations

Recall that a system of m linear equations in n unknowns can be written as




 a11 x1 + a12 x2 + · · · a1n xn = b1


 a x + a x + ···a x = b

21 1 22 2 2n n 2


 ······························


 a x + a x + ···a x = b .

m1 1 m2 2 mn n m

Here x1 , x2 , . . . , xn are the unknowns, a11 , a12 , . . . , amn are the coefficients of the
system, and b1 , b2 , . . . , bm are the constant terms. Observe that a systems of linear
equations may be written as Ax = b, with A = (aij )i=1,m ∈ Mm,n (F), x ∈ Mn,1 (F)
j=1,n
and b ∈ Mm,1 (F). The matrix A is called the coefficient matrix, while the matrix
[A|b] ∈ Mm,n+1 (F), 
 a if j 6= n + 1
ij
[A|b]ij =
 b if j = n + 1
i

is called the augmented matrix of the system.

Matrices. Determinants. Systems of linear equations 5

We say that x1 , x2 , ..., xn is a solution of a linear system if x1 , x2 , ..., xn satisfy each

equations of the system. A linear system is consistent if it has a solution, and
inconsistent otherwise. According to the Rouché-Capelli theorem, a system of
linear equations is inconsistent if the rank of the augmented matrix is greater than
the rank of the coefficient matrix. If, on the other hand, the ranks of these two
matrices are equal, the system must have at least one solution. The solution is
unique if and only if the rank equals the number of variables. Otherwise the
general solution has k free parameters where k is the difference between the
number of variables and the rank.
In row reduction, the linear system is represented as an augmented matrix [A|b].
This matrix is then modified using elementary row operations until it reaches
reduced row echelon form. Because these operations are reversible, the augmented
matrix produced always represents a linear system that is equivalent to the
original. In this way one can easily read the solutions.
A homogeneous system is equivalent to a matrix equation of the form

Ax = O.

Obviously a homogeneous system is consistent, having the trivial solution

x1 = x2 = · · · = xn = 0.
It can be easily realized that a homogeneous linear system has a non-trivial
solution if and only if the number of leading coefficients in echelon form is less
than the number of unknowns, in other words, the coefficient matrix is singular.

Problems

Problem 1.1. Compute the following determinants.

Matrices. Determinants. Systems of linear equations 6

4−x −5 2 1−x −1 −1
D1 = 5 −7 − x 3 , D2 = −3 −4 − x −3 , D3 =
6 −9 4−x 4 7 6−x
1 1 0 1 1 −1 0 2
1 0 0 −1 0 −1 3 −1
, D4 = .
1 −1 0 −1 −1 1 0 −1
0 0 −1 1 2 −1 −1 1

Problem 1.2. Compute the rank of the following matrices by using the
Gauss-Jordan elimination method.
 
2 0 2 0 2
 
 
0 1 0 1 0 
A=  .

2 1 0 2 1 
 
0 1 0 1 0
 
3 −1
2 1
 
3 −1 2 0 
 
B=  .
1 3 4 −2
 
 
4 −3 1 1
 
1 −1 2 3
 
−2 1 4 −1
 
C=  .
 0 −1 8 5 
 
 
2 −2 4 6
Matrices. Determinants. Systems of linear equations 7

 
2 −1
1 0
 
−1 2 1 −1
 
 
D=  1 0 −1 1  .
 
 
 
0 2 0 0
 
2 3 0 −1

Problem 1.3. Solve the following systems of linear equations by using

Gauss-Jordan elimination procedure.



 x + 2y + 4z − 3t = 0


3x + 5y + 6z − 4t = 0


(S1 )


 3x + 8y + 24z − 19t = 0


 4x + 5y − 2z + 3t = 0


 x+y−z−t=0



(S2 ) −x − y + 2z + t = 0


 x+y+z−t=0




 x1 + x2 + x3 − 2x4 − 3x5 = 0


 −x + 3x − x − 2x − x = 0

1 2 3 4 5
(S3 )


 −x1 + x2 − x3 + x5 = 0


x1 + x2 − x4 − x5 = 0





 x + 2y − 3z = 0


x − y + 2z − t = 0


(S4 )


 −2x − y + z + t = 0


 −x − 8y + 13z − 2t = 0


Problem 1.4. Find the inverses of the following matrices by using the
Matrices. Determinants. Systems of linear equations 8

  
2 2 3 1 2 3
   
Gauss-Jordan elimination method. A =  1 −1 0 , B = 0 1 2 , C =
   
   
−1 2 1 2 2 1
   
1 1 0 1 1 −1 0 2
   
0 −1  0 −1 3 −1
   
1 0
 , D =  .
1 −1 0 −1 −1 1 0 −1
   
   
0 0 −1 1 2 −1 −1 1