Chapter 8

Determinants

The founder of the theory of determinants is usually taken to be Gottfried Leibnitz (1646-
1716), who also shares the credit for inventing calculus with Isaac Newton (1643-1727).
But the idea of 2 × 2 determinants goes back at least to the Chinese around 200BC. The
word determinant itself was first used in its present sense in 1812 by Augustin-Louis
Cauchy (1789-1857), and he developed much of the general theory we know today.

8.1 Inverses of 2 × 2 matrices, and determinants

 
a b
Let A = be a 2 × 2 matrix. Recall that the determinant of A is
c d
 
 a b 
  = ad − bc.
 c d 

We also denote this determinant by det(A).

 
2 3
Examples. Let A = . Then det(A) = −2 − 6 = −8.
2 −1
     
 1 2   1 0   2 −1 
 3 4  = −2, det(I2 ) =  0 1  = 1,  −4 2  = 4 − 4 = 0.
     

 
a b
Now let A = and let ∆ = det(A) = ad − bc. We note that if ∆ 6= 0 and
c d
 
d/∆ −b/∆
B=
−c/∆ a/∆

then    
(ad − bc)/∆ (−ab + ba)/∆ 1 0
AB = = ,
(cd − dc)/∆ (−cb + da)/∆ 0 1

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and    
(da − bc)/∆ (db − bd)/∆ 1 0
BA = = ,
(−ca + ac)/∆ (−cb + ad)/∆ 0 1
so that A is invertible and A−1 = B.

Thus if A is a 2 × 2-matrix and det(A) 6= 0, then A is invertible. What if det(A) = 0?

We shall show that in this case A is not invertible, but first we show:

Theorem 8.1. If A and B are 2 × 2-matrices, then det(AB) = det(A) det(B).

   
a b p q
Proof. We prove this by direct computation. Let A = and B = .
  c d r s
ap + br aq + bs
Then AB = and
cp + dr cq + ds

det(AB) = (ap + br)(cq + ds) − (cp + dr)(aq + bs)

= apcq + apds + brcq + brds − cpaq − cpbs − draq − drbs
= apds + brcq − cpbs − draq
= (ad − cb)(ps − rq)
= det(A)det(B)

   
1 −2 2 3
Example. Let A = ,B = . Then
1 3 4 −1
 
 −6 5 
det(AB) =   = 0 − 70 = −70
14 0 

det(A) det(B) = (3 − (−2))(−2 − 12) = 5 × (−14) = −70.

 
a b
Theorem 8.2. Let A = be a 2 × 2-matrix. Then A is invertible if and only
c d  
−1 d/∆ −b/∆
if det(A) 6= 0, and when ∆ = det(A) 6= 0, then A = .
−c/∆ a/∆

Proof. We have already seen that when ∆ = det(A) 6= 0 then A is invertible with inverse
as above. It therefore just remains to show that when ∆ = 0 then A is not invertible.

So suppose det(A) = 0. Then det(AB) = det(A) det(B) = 0 for every 2 × 2-matrix B.

But since det(I2 ) = 1 this means there cannot exist a matrix B with AB = I2 . Hence
A is not invertible.

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2 −1
Examples. 1. Let A = . then det(A) = 0, so A is not invertible.
−4 2
 
1 2
2. Let A = . then det(A) = −2 6= 0, so A is invertible, and
3 4
   
−1 1 4 −2 −2 1
A = = .
det(A) −3 1 3/2 −1/2

Check:  
  
−1 −2 1 2
1 1 0
AA = = = I2 ,
3/2 −1/2
3 4 0 1
    
−1 −2 1 1 2 1 0
A A= = = I2 .
3/2 −1/2 3 4 0 1

8.2 Determinants of 3 × 3 matrices

Consider the 3 × 3 matrix  
u1 v1 w1
A =  u2 v2 w2  .
u3 v3 w3
We define the determinant of A by:
 
 u1 v1 w1 
 
det(A) =  u2 v2 w2  = u·(v × w)
 u3 v3 w3 

where      
u1 v1 w1
u =  u2  , v =  v2  , w =  w2  .
u3 v3 w3
Thus  
   
u1 v1 w1
det(A) =  u2  ·  v2  ×  w2 
u3 v3 w3
 
u1 
 v2 w2 
 
 v1 w1 
 
 v1 w1 
 
=  u2  ·   i−   j+  k
v3 w3  v3 w3  v2 w2 
u3
     
 v2 w2   v1 w1   v1 w1 
= u1 
  − u2 
  + u3 
 
v3 w3  v3 w3  v2 w2 
= u1 (v2 w3 − v3 w2 ) − u2 (v1 w3 − v3 w1 ) + u3 (v1 w2 − v2 w1 ).

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Example. Let  
3 2 −1
A =  2 0 −3  .
−2 1 1
Then      
 0 −3   2 −1   2 −1 
 − 2
det(A) = 3   1 1  − 2  0 −3 
  
1 1 
= 3(3) − 2(3) − 2(−6) = 15.
Remark. Notice that the right-hand side of our equation

u·(v × w) = u1 (v2 w3 − v3 w2 ) − u2 (v1 w3 − v3 w1 ) + u3 (v1 w2 − v2 w1 )

can be re-arranged to give u1 (v2 w3 − v3 w2 ) − v1 (u2 w3 − u3 w2 ) + w1 (u2 v3 − u3 v2 ). Thus

we can also write:
 
 u1 v1 w1 
 
 u2 v2 w2  = u1 (v2 w3 − v3 w2 ) − v1 (u2 w3 − u3 w2 ) + w1 (u2 v3 − u3 v2 ).
 
 u3 v3 w3 

This is a formula that is often used to define a 3 × 3 determinant, but in this course we
prefer to define it as a triple scalar product because we can easily prove many properties
of 3 × 3 determinants using results we have already proved for triple scalar products (see
the next theorem). Note that it also follows from this re-arrangement that
   
 u1 u2 u3   u1 v1 w1 
   
 v1 v2 v3  =  u2 v2 w2  ,
   
 w1 w2 w3   u3 v3 w3 

in other words the determinant of a 3 × 3 matrix A is equal to the determinant of At ,

where the transpose At = (atij )3×3 of A is defined to be the matrix with (i, j)-entry
atij = aji for all i and j.
 
u1 v1 w1
Theorem 8.3. Let A =  u2 v2 w2 . Then
u3 v3 w3

(1) Interchanging two columns

 of A negates det(A). For example
 v1 u1 w1   u1 v1 w1 
   
 v2 u2 w2  = −  u2 v2 w2  = − det(A).
   
 v3 u3 w3   u3 v3 w3 

(2) Multiplying any column of A by α multiplies det(A) by α.

(3) Adding a scalar multiple of any column of A to any other column does not change
the determinant.

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Proof. These all follow very easily from properties we have already proved for the scalar
triple product.

(1) follows at once from:

det(A) = u·(v×w) = v.(w×u) = w·(u×v) = −u·(w×v) = −v·(u×w) = −w·(v×u).

(2) follows at once from: α det(A) = α(u·(v × w)) = (αu)·(v × w) = u·((αv) × w) =

u·(v × (αw)).

(3), for B the matrix obtained by adding α times the second column to the first column
of A, follows at once from the corresponding result for scalar triple products:
det(B) = (u + αv)·(v × w) = u·(v × w) = det(A), and the other cases are similar.

We can use these properties to compute determinants quickly:

Example.
       
 6 10 13   6 1 13   6 1 1   0 1 1 
      
 2 20 4  = 10  2 2 4  = 10  2 2 0  = 10  2 2 0 
   
 −1 −20 −2   −1 −2 −2   −1 −2 −0   −1 −2 −0 
      
 2 0 
 − 2 1 1 
  1 1 
= 10 0  − 1   = 10(0(0) − 2(2) − 1(−2)) = −20.
−2 0   −2 0  2 0 

Here to get the first equality we have applied part (2) of the theorem to take out a factor
of 10 from the second column, to get the second equality we have applied part (3) of
the theorem to subtract twice the first column from the third column, and for the 3rd
equality we have applied part (3) to subtract 6 times the third column from the first
column.

Remarks.
1.Since det(At ) = det(A) we can just as well use row operations as column operations
when simplifying determinants.
2.Although we do not prove it in this module, just as for 2 × 2 matrices it is true for all
3 × 3 matrices A and B that

det(AB) = det(A) det(B)

and that A is invertible if and only if det(A) 6= 0. Moreover when A is invertible there
is a formula for its inverse:
 
det(A11 ) − det(A21 ) det(A31 )
1 
A−1 = − det(A12 ) det(A22 ) − det(A32 )  ,
det(A)
det(A13 ) − det(A23 ) det(A33 )

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where Aij is the 2 × 2 matrix obtained from A by removing the ith row and jth column.
3. We can write any set of 3 simultaneous linear equations in 3 unkowns as a matrix
equation
Ax = y
   
y1 x1
where the entries of A and of y =  y2  are known and the entries of x =  x2 
y3 x3
−1
are the unknowns. If det(A) 6= 0 the matrix A has a (unique) inverse A and by
multiplying both sides of the matrix equation by A−1 we see that

A−1 Ax = A−1 y.

Since A−1 Ax = I3 x = x we deduce that

x = A−1 y

is a solution of the simultaneous equations, indeed that it is the unique solution.

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