How to Find Determinants of a Matrix?
For every square matrix, you can calculate the determinant of the matrix. Here is a step-by-step guide to finding the determinants of a matrix.
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A Matrix is an array of numbers: \(m×n\) with \(m\) rows and \(n\) columns. The determinant of a matrix is a scalar value that is defined for square matrices.
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A step-by-step guide to finding determinants of a matrix
- The determinant of a \(2×2\) matrix \(A\), \(A=\begin{bmatrix}a & b \\c & d \end{bmatrix}\) is defined as \(|A|=ad-bc\).
- The determinant of a \(3×3\) matrix \(A\), \(A=\begin{bmatrix}a & b & c \\d & e & f \\g & h & i\end{bmatrix}\) is defined as \(|A|=a(ei-fh)-b(di-fg)+c(dh-eg)\)
Finding Determinants of a Matrix – Example 1:
Evaluate the determinant of matrix \(A=\begin{bmatrix}5 & -1 \\6 & 2 \end{bmatrix}\)
Solution:
The determinant is: \(|A|=5(2)-(-1)(6)=10-(-6)=10+6=16\)
Finding Determinants of a Matrix – Example 2:
Evaluate the determinant of matrix: \(A=\begin{bmatrix}2 & 0 & 1 \\0 & -1 & 1 \\3 & 1 & -2\end{bmatrix}\)
Solution:
The determinant is: \(|A|=2((-1)(-2)-(1)(1))-0((-2)(0)-(1)(3)+1((0)(1)-(-1)(3))=5\)
Exercises for Finding Determinants of a matrix
Evaluate the determinants of each matrix.
- \(\color{blue}{\begin{bmatrix}3 & 5 \\0 & 9 \end{bmatrix}}\)
- \(\color{blue}{\begin{bmatrix}0 & 1 \\4 & 6 \end{bmatrix}}\)
- \(\color{blue}{\begin{bmatrix}1 & 5 & 4\\0 & 9 & 1\\1 & 0 & 6\end{bmatrix}}\)
- \(\color{blue}{\begin{bmatrix}6 & 0 & 5\\1 & 4 & 2\\3 & 7 & 4\end{bmatrix}}\)
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- \(\color{blue}{27}\)
- \(\color{blue}{-4}\)
- \(\color{blue}{23}\)
- \(\color{blue}{-13}\)
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