Determinants – Notes

Determinants

Let A be the set of square matrices and B is a set of real or complex numbers. If a function, : A → B is defined by (x) = b, such that X  A and b  B, then (x) is called the determinant of X.

The determinant of A is denoted by , det(A) or .

If any row (or column) contain maximum number of zeros, then finding the determinant along the row (or columns) makes the calculation easier.

If all the elements in a row (or a column) are zeros, then the determinant of that matrix is zero.

If M and N are two square matrices such that M = kN, where is a real number, then  =   , where n is the order  of the matrices M and N.