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Determinants Lecture

The document defines the determinant of a square matrix and provides properties and applications of determinants. Specifically, it defines the determinant for 2x2 and nxn matrices, gives formulas for computing determinants, and outlines properties such as how determinants change with row operations and how they can be used to determine invertibility. It also discusses Cramer's rule and applications of determinants to areas, volumes, and linear transformations.

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Ananya Jain
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94 views11 pages

Determinants Lecture

The document defines the determinant of a square matrix and provides properties and applications of determinants. Specifically, it defines the determinant for 2x2 and nxn matrices, gives formulas for computing determinants, and outlines properties such as how determinants change with row operations and how they can be used to determine invertibility. It also discusses Cramer's rule and applications of determinants to areas, volumes, and linear transformations.

Uploaded by

Ananya Jain
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Determinant

• Remark: Propositions about determinants will be numbered


independently as Prop D1, Prop D2, etc.
• Definition of the Determinant: If A  F22 where A = [aij], then
det A is defined to be the scalar a11 a22  a12 a21 . Thus det is a
function from F22 to F.
• We extend this definition recursively to Fnn. as follows:
• Notation: If A  Fnn , let Ai,j denote the (n  1)  (n  1) matrix obtained from
A by omission of the i-th row and j-th column.
• Column expansion formula: A formula for the determinant is given by:
det A =  ( 1) i + j aij det Ai,j , where the summation is taken for i = 1 to n.
• Row expansion formula: Another formula for the determinant is given by:
det A =  ( 1) i + j aij det Ai,j , where the summation is taken for j = 1 to n.
The Determinant - 1
• Proposition D1: The following hold for the determinant of a square
matrix A:
i. If the matrix A’ is obtained from A by interchanging two rows,
then det A’ =  det A
ii. If the matrix A’ is obtained from A by multiplying some row by
  F, then det A’ =  det A
iii. If the matrix A’ is obtained from A by adding a multiple of one
row to another row, then det A’ = det A
• Remark 1: The above indicates what happens to the determinant
when an elementary row operation – interchange, scaling, or
replacement – is applied.
• Remark 2: It follows directly from the above that if the rows of A
are linearly dependent, then det A = 0.
Procedure for Computing the Determinant
• Proposition D2: If an n  n matrix A is upper triangular,
then det A = a11a22…..ann
• Corollary D2.1: In order to determine the determinant of
an n  n matrix, use elementary row operations of
interchange and replacement type only to reduce A to an
upper triangular matrix A’. If r is the number of row
interchanges carried out, then det A = ( 1)r det A’.
• Remark 1: This follows directly from Proposition 40 and
the definition (using the column expansion).
• Remark 2: The above method is far less computationally
intensive than using either row or column expansion. NB:
there is another formula, and that is equally inefficient.
Further Properties of the Determinant - 1
• Proposition D3: An n  n matrix A is invertible if
and only if det A  0.
• Remark: The above gives another useful property
equivalent to invertibility for square matrices.
Consequently, we need to extend our theorem on
invertibility of matrices (see next slide).
Very Important Theorem – Ver 2.0
• Theorem 1: The following are equivalent for an
mm square matrix A:
a. A is invertible
b. A is row equivalent to the identity matrix
c. The homogeneous system Ax = 0 has only the trivial solution
d. The system of equations Ax = b has at least one solution for every b
in Rm.
e. Nullity (A) = 0
f. Rank (A) = m
g. The columns of A form a basis for Rm.
h. Det A  0
Further Properties of the Determinant - 2
• Proposition D4: for all A,B  Fnn , det (AB) = (det A)
(det B)
• Corollary D4.1: If A is invertible, then det A 1 = (det
A)1
• Remark: While det (AB) = (detA)(detB), in general
det(A + B)  det A + det B. So the determinant is not a
linear function or linear transformation.
• Remark: A linear transformation from a vector space V to
its underlying field F is known as a linear functional.
However, the determinant is not a linear functional.
• Proposition D5: For all A  Fnn, det AT = det A.
Cramer’s Rule
• Remark: If you have not studied this topic before, it is nicely
presented in the book by Lay: Section 3.3
• Definition: For any nn matrix A and any vector b in Rn, define
Ai(b) to be the matrix obtained by replacing the i-th column of A by
b.
• Proposition D6 (Cramer’s Rule): Let A be any invertible nn
matrix. For any vector b in Rn, the unique solution x of Ax = b has
entries given by:
xi = (det Ai(b))/(det A) for i = 1,2,..,n

• Cramer’s Rule is (usually) not a practical method for solving


systems of linear equations since it requires computation of (n + 1)
determinants.
Application of Cramer’s Rule
• Terminology and Notation: For any nn matrix A, we
define the cofactor Cij = ( 1)i + jAij
• Definition: the classical adjoint of A (written adj A) is the
matrix whose entries are the cofactors of A transposed. In
other words, adj A is the matrix:
 C11 C21 … Cn1 
 C12 C22 … Cn2 
| : : : |
 C1n C2n Cnn 
• Proposition D7: Inverse Formula: Let A be any
invertible nn matrix. Then:
A1 = (1/det A)( adj A)
Application of Determinants to Areas and
Volumes - 1

• Proposition D8: (a) If A is a 22 matrix, the area of


the parallelogram determined by the columns of A is |det
A|. (b) If A is a 33 matrix, the volume of the
parallelepiped determined by the columns of A is |det A|.
Application of Determinants to Areas and
Volumes - 2

• Proposition D9: (a) Let T:R2  R2 be the linear


transformation determined by a 22 matrix A. If S is a
parallelogram in R2, then {area of T(S)} = |det A|  {area
of S}.
(b) Let T:R3  R3 be the linear transformation determined
by a 33 matrix A. If S is a parallelepiped in R3, then
{volume of T(S)} = |det A|  {volume of S}.
Application of Determinants to Areas and
Volumes - 3

• Proposition D10: The conclusions of Proposition


D9 hold whenever S is a region in R2 with finite
area or a region in R3 with finite volume. In other
words:
{area or volume of T(S)} = |det A|  {area or
volume of S}.

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