Determinants Minors Co-Factors
Determinants Minors Co-Factors
Square Matrix
What You Should Learn
• Find the determinants of 2 2 matrices.
2
The Determinant of a 2 2 Matrix
3
The Determinant of a 2 2 Matrix
Every square matrix can be associated with a real number
called its determinant. Determinants have many uses, and
several will be discussed in this section.
4
The Determinant of a 2 2 Matrix
Coefficient Matrix Determinant
5
Example 1 – The Determinant of a 2 2 Matrix
Solution:
a.
= 2(2) – 1(–3)
=4+3
=7
6
Example 1 – Solution cont’d
b.
= 2(2) – 4(1)
=4–4
=0
c.
= 0(4) – 2
=0–3
= –3 7
Minors and Cofactors
8
Minors and Cofactors
To define the determinant of a square matrix of dimension
3 3 or higher, it is helpful to introduce the concepts of
minors and cofactors.
9
Example 2 – Finding the Minors and Cofactors of a Matrix
Solution:
To find the minor
M11
delete the first row and first column of A and evaluate the
determinant of the resulting matrix.
10
Example 2 – Solution cont’d
= –1(1) – 0(2)
= –1
11
Example 2 – Solution cont’d
= 3(1) – 4(2)
= –5
12
Example 2 – Solution cont’d
13
The Determinant of a Square Matrix
14
The Determinant of a Square Matrix
The following definition is called inductive because it uses
determinants of matrices of dimension (n – 1) (n – 1) to
define determinants of matrices of dimension n n.
15
Example 3 – The Determinant of a Matrix of Dimension 3 3
Solution:
Note that this is the same matrix that was in Example 2.
There you found the cofactors of the entries in the first row
to be
16
Example 3 – Solution cont’d
= 14.
17
An Alternative Computational Approach
18