Unit 19 Properties of Determinants

Theorem 19.1. Suppose A and B are identical n n matrices with the

exception that one row (or column) of B is obtained by multiplying the cor-
responding row (or column) of A by some nonzero constant c. Then
det B = c(det A)
This theorem may be used in a variety of situations to make a seemingly
dicult determinant (due to large numbers or fractions involved) into a much
easier one, as the following examples demonstrate.
Example 1. Find det A where A =
_
_
42 5 1
84 0 0
63 5 2
_
_
Solution: The numbers in the rst column have a common factor of 21. The
arithmetic will be easier if we factor it out. That is, we have the matrix
_
_
42 5 1
84 0 0
63 5 2
_
_
=
_
_
21 2 5 1
21 4 0 0
21 3 5 2
_
_
so the matrix
_
_
42 5 1
84 0 0
63 5 2
_
_
can be obtained from the matrix
_
_
2 5 1
4 0 0
3 5 2
_
_
by multiplying the rst column by 21. Thus, Theorem 19.1 tells us that
det A = det
_
_
42 5 1
84 0 0
63 5 2
_
_
= 21 det
_
_
2 5 1
4 0 0
3 5 2
_
_
1
and so, expanding along row 2, we have
det A = 21 (4 (1)
2+1
det
_
5 1
5 2
_
+ 0 + 0) = 84 5 = 420
Notice: What we saw here is that we can use Theorem 19.1 by factoring
a constant, c, out of every entry in some particular row or column of the
matrix and then multiplying the determinant of the resulting matrix by the
constant. For instance, for a 33 matrix, we can factor out a common factor
in row 1 and nd the determinant as
det
_
_
c a
11
c a
12
c a
13
a
21
a
22
a
23
a
31
a
32
a
33
_
_
= c det
_
_
a
11
a
12
a
13
a
21
a
22
a
23
a
31
a
32
a
33
_
_
Example 2. Find det A where A =
_
_
39 26 104
3 0 6
12 0 32
_
_
Solution: We can see that det A is most easily found by expanding along
column 2. However, we can simplify the arithmetic by factoring out common
factors in some rows and columns. To begin with, we see that column 3
contains only even numbers (and 2 is the largest integer factor shared by
these numbers) so we can factor out a 2 from this column:
det A = det
_
_
39 26 104
3 0 6
12 0 32
_
_
= 2 det
_
_
39 26 52
3 0 3
12 0 16
_
_
Now, we can see fairly easily that row 1 contains only multiples of 13, so we
can factor 13 out of row 1 to get:
det A = (13 2) det
_
_
3 2 4
3 0 3
12 0 16
_
_
Also, we can factor a 3 out of column 1 and after that, a 4 out of row 3.
2
This gives:
det A = 3 26 det
_
_
1 2 4
1 0 3
4 0 16
_
_
= 4 3 26 det
_
_
1 2 4
1 0 3
1 0 4
_
_
Finally, we expand along column 2.
det A = 12 26
_
2(1)
1+2
det
_
1 3
1 4
_
+ 0 + 0
_
= 312 (2) (4 3) = 624 1 = 624
Example 3. Find det B, where B =
_
_
1
2

1
6
1

2
3
1
3
0
1
4

1
4
0
_
_
Solution: We know we will want to expand along column 3, but lets see if
we can get rid of the fractions inside the matrix. Notice that the (1, 1)-entry
is
1
2
=
3
6
, so there is a common factor of
1
6
in row 1. Likewise, we can factor
1
3
out of row 2 and
1
4
out of row 3. We get:
det B = det
_
_
1
2

1
6
1

2
3
1
3
0
1
4

1
4
0
_
_
= det
_
_
1
6
(3)
1
6
(1)
1
6
(6)
1
3
(2)
1
3
(1)
1
3
(0)
1
4
(1)
1
4
(1)
1
4
(0)
_
_
=
1
6

1
3

1
4
det
_
_
3 1 6
2 1 0
1 1 0
_
_
Now, expanding along column 3, we get:
det B =
1
6 3 4

_
6 (1)
1+3
det
_
2 1
1 1
_
+ 0 + 0
_
=
6
6 12
[2 1] =
1
12
1 =
1
12
Notice: In general, if c is a constant then det(cA) = c det A. Since cA is
formed by multiplying every entry and hence every row of A by c, we need
to take a factor of c out of each row.
3
This means that for any n n matrix A:
det(cA) = c
n
det A
For instance, if A is a 3 3 matrix, then det(2A) = 2
3
det A = 8 det A.
Theorem 19.2. More Facts About Determinants
Suppose A and B are square n n matrices. Then:
1. If A has one row (column) that is a scalar multiple of another row
(column) of A then det(A) = 0.
2. If B is identical to A except that two rows (or columns) from A are
interchanged, then det B = det A. (i.e. when 2 rows or columns of a
matrix are interchanged, the sign of the determinant is reversed).
3. If B is obtained from A by adding a scalar multiple of one row (column)
of A to another row (column) of A, then det B = det A. (i.e., adding
a scalar multiple of one row (or column) to another row (or colunm)
does not change the value of the determinant.)
4. det(AB) = det Adet B
Notice: Two of these facts, along with Theorem 19.1, tell us how the de-
terminant is aected when elementary row operations (or the corresponding
column operations) are performed on a matrix. They are meant to be used to
take a matrix whose determinant at rst glance seems dicult, and transform
it, through elementary row or column operations, to a matrix whose deter-
minant is easy to calculate. For instance, we may obtain a row or column
with many zeroes, or transform the entire matrix into one which is upper or
lower triangular.
Example 4. Find the determinant of A =
_

_
1 1 1 2
3 1 4 1
2 1 1 2
1 1 2 1
_

_
Solution: A is a 4 4 matrix and contains no zeroes. To calculate det A di-
rectly, expanding along any row or column would involve determinants of four
33 matrices, and evaluating each of these 33 determinants would involve
determinants of three 2 2 matrices, so in total, we would need to identify
and nd determinants of twelve 2 2 matrices. We can signicantly reduce
4
the work required to calculate det A by using elementary row (or column)
operations to get rows or columns with lots of zeroes. We will work towards
making an upper triangular matrix, but we dont have to go all the way there.
To begin with, we zero-out column 1 by replacing R2 by R23R1, replacing
R3 with R3 2R1 and replacing R4 with R4 R1. Since each of these
operations involves adding a scalar multiple of Row 1 to another row, these
3 operations all leave the determinant unchanged, so we see that:
det A = det
_

_
1 1 1 2
3 1 4 1
2 1 1 2
1 1 2 1
_

_
= det
_

_
1 1 1 2
0 4 1 5
0 3 3 2
0 2 3 1
_

_
The arithmetic will be slightly easier if we interchange rows 2 and 4. Of
course, interchanging 2 rows changes the sign of the determinant, so we get:
det A = det
_

_
1 1 1 2
0 2 3 1
0 3 3 2
0 4 1 5
_

_
Now, we get zeroes in the (3, 2) and (4, 2) entries using R3 R3
3
2
R2 and
R4 R4 2R2. Again, these are operations which dont change the value
of the determinant, so:
det A = det
_

_
1 1 1 2
0 2 3 1
0 0
3
2

1
2
0 0 7 3
_

_
We can get rid of the fractions by factoring a
1
2
out of row 3. We get:
det A =
1
2
det
_

_
1 1 1 2
0 2 3 1
0 0 3 1
0 0 7 3
_

_
We could continue until we were working with an upper triangular matrix.
However, the determinant can easily be calculated at the current stage, by
expanding along column 1 and then expanding the only 33 matrix we need
to deal with along column 1 as well.
5
det A =
1
2
det
_

_
1 1 1 2
0 2 3 1
0 0 3 1
0 0 7 3
_

_
=
1
2
_
_
1(1)
1+1
det
_
_
2 3 1
0 3 1
0 7 3
_
_
+ 0 + 0 + 0
_
_
=
1
2
(1)
_
2(1)
1+1
det
_
3 1
7 3
_
+ 0 + 0
_
=
1
2
(2)[(3)(3) (1)(7)] = (2) = 2
Example 5. Find det A, where A =
_

_
100 75 50 25
72 72 0 27
4
5
3
5

1
5
4
5
0 2 4 6
_

_
Solution: This matrix looks very unfriendly. That is, it would appear that
calculating the determinant requires calculating determinants of at least three
3 3 matrices, all involving not-exactly-trivial arithmetic. However, if we
rst do some factoring from each row, to get some friendlier numbers, we
can then easily transform the matrix to an upper triangular matrix, using
elementary row operations. The determinant will then be easy to nd.
We can factor 25 out of Row 1, 9 out of Row 2,
1
5
out of Row 3 and 2 out
of row 4. We see that det A is given by:
det
_

_
100 75 50 25
72 72 0 27
4
5
3
5

1
5
4
5
0 2 4 6
_

_
= (25 9
1
5
2) det
_

_
4 3 2 1
8 8 0 3
4 3 1 4
0 1 2 3
_

_
6
We now perform elementary row operations to get an upper triangular ma-
trix. First, replace row 2 with R2(2R1), and replace row 3 with (R3R1).
We know that these operations have no eect on the determinant. That is,
the determinant of the transformed matrix will be the same as the determi-
nant of the matrix before the transformations. So:
det A = (90) det
_

_
4 3 2 1
0 2 4 1
0 0 1 3
0 1 2 3
_

_
Next, we can interchange Rows 2 and 4 (so that when we subtract a multiple
of one from the other we wont need to introduce fractions into the matrix).
Interchanging 2 rows changes the sign of the determinant, so to counteract
this change, we need to change the sign of the scalar were multiplying the
determinant by. That is, the determinant of the matrix before interchanging
the rows is equal to (1) times the determinant of the matrix which has the
rows interchanged. We have:
det A = (90) det
_

_
4 3 2 1
0 1 2 3
0 0 1 3
0 2 4 1
_

_
Now, we can replace row 4 by R4 (2 R2) to complete the process of
transforming the matrix to an upper triangular matrix. Once again, this
kind of elementary row operation has no eect on the determinant. That
is, the determinant of the new matrix is equal to the determinant of the old
matrix. So we get:
det A = (90) det
_

_
4 3 2 1
0 1 2 3
0 0 1 3
0 0 0 7
_

_
= (90) (4 1 1 7) = 2520
This procedure was much easier than calculating det A by expanding along
some row or column of A would have been.
7
Notice: We could have omitted the interchange of Rows 2 and 4 above, and
instead simply subtracted
1
2
R2 from row 4. This would have given the
nal calculation of the determinant as (90)
_
4 2 1
_

7
2
__
= 2520.
We have seen that:
1. When we interchange two rows of a matrix, the sign of the determinant
changes,
2. when we add a scalar multiple of 1 row to another row of the matrix,
the determinant stays the same, and
3. when we multiply a row by a non-zero scalar, the determinant is mul-
tiplied by the same scalar.
Thus the only eects on the determinant when we row reduce a matrix are
sign changes and multiplication by non-zero scalars. That is, we see that:
Lemma 19.3. Let A be any square matrix and let B be the RREF of A.
Then det A = c det B for some non-zero scalar c.
Notice: The scalar c in this lemma is the cumulative eect of all of the eros
performed in transforming the matrix to RREF, i.e., of some sign changes
and some multiplications by non-zero scalars. Thus c is the product of some
(1)s and some non-zeroes, and hence c = 0. This is important because it
gives us the following theorem.
Theorem 19.4. A square matrix A is invertible if and only if det A = 0.
Proof: From our list of equivalent statements in Unit 17, we know that a
matrix A is invertible if and only if the row reduced form of A is the identity
matrix I. Let B be the row reduced form of A. Therefore det A = c det B,
where c is some nonzero scalar (by Lemma 19.3).
8
Suppose A is invertible. Then B = I, and of course, det I = 1, so
det A = c det B = c(1) = c = 0
We see that if A is invertible then det A = 0.
Suppose now that A is not invertible. Then r(A) < n, where n is the order of
A, (because r(A) n and we know that A is invertible and r(A) = n are
equivalent statements for any square matrix A, i.e., A is invertible if and only
if r(A) = n). Of course, we have r(A) = r(B), so r(B) < n. But a square
matrix which is in RREF and has less than full rank has, by denition, fewer
than n non-zero rows, so B contains at least one row containing only zeroes.
And we know that a matrix containing a zero row has determinant 0, so we
have det B = 0, and we see that:
det(A) = c det(B) = c(0) = 0
Therefore if A is not invertible, then det A = 0. So if det A = 0, it cannot be
true that A is non-invertible, i.e., it must be true that A is invertible. Thus
we have shown that if A is invertible, then det A = 0, and if det A = 0, then
A is invertible, i.e., we have shown that A is invertible if and only if det A = 0.
We can now add det A = 0 to our list of equivalent statements from
Unit 17. The new version of Theorem 17.11 is thus:
Theorem 19.5. If A is a square matrix of order n, then the following state-
ments are equivalent to one another (i.e. if any one statement is true then
all are true).
1. A is invertible (i.e., nonsingular).
2. r(A) = n (i.e., A has full rank).
3. The RREF of A is I
n
(i.e., A is row-equivalent to the identity matrix).
4. Ax =

b has a unique solution for any

b.
5. Ax =

0 has only the trivial solution.

6. det A = 0.
9
Cramers Rule/The Classical Adjoint
We now introduce new techniques for
(i) solving the SLE Ax =

b, and (ii) nding A

1
,
when A is a square matrix with det A = 0. Both of these new techniques
involve using determinants.
Denition 19.6. Given a linear system of equations Ax =

b, where A is a
square matrix, we use A(i) to denote the matrix obtained by replacing the
i
th
column of A with

b.
Example 6. Find A(1), A(2) and A(3), where A is the coecient matrix of
the linear system:
x
1
+x
2
x
3
= 6
x
1
x
2
+x
3
= 2
x
1
2x
3
= 0
Solution: Writing this system in matrix equation form, Ax =

b, we have
_
_
1 1 1
1 1 1
1 0 2
_
_
_
_
x
1
x
2
x
3
_
_
=
_
_
6
2
0
_
_
We see that:
A =
_
_
1 1 1
1 1 1
1 0 2
_
_
and

b =
_
_
6
2
0
_
_
To get A(1), we replace the rst column of A by the column vector

b.
We get A(1) =
_
_
6 1 1
2 1 1
0 0 2
_
_
Similarly, we have A(2) =
_
_
1 6 1
1 2 1
1 0 2
_
_
and A(3) =
_
_
1 1 6
1 1 2
1 0 0
_
_
10
Denition 19.7. A square linear system is a linear system in which the
coecient matrix is a square matrix, i.e., a SLE in which the number of
equations is the same as the number of variables.
Theorem 19.8. Cramers Rule
Suppose Ax =

b is a square linear system in the variables x
1
, x
2
, x
3
, ..., x
n
with the property that det A = 0. Then the (unique) solution to the system
is given by:
x
1
=
det A(1)
det A
, x
2
=
det A(2)
det A
, ... , x
n
=
det A(n)
det A
Notice: We can only use Cramers rule when det(A) = 0. However,
this means that Cramers Rule can be used to solve any square linear system
which has a unique solution, since we know (from Theorem 19.5) that Ax =

b
has a unique solution if and only if det A = 0.
Example 7. Solve the following system using Cramers rule:
x
1
+x
2
x
3
= 6
x
1
x
2
+x
3
= 2
x
1
2x
3
= 0
Solution: This is the same system as in the previous example, so we have the
matrices:
A =
_
_
1 1 1
1 1 1
1 0 2
_
_
, A(1) =
_
_
6 1 1
2 1 1
0 0 2
_
_
,
A(2) =
_
_
1 6 1
1 2 1
1 0 2
_
_
, A(3) =
_
_
1 1 6
1 1 2
1 0 0
_
_
We need to nd the determinant of each of these matrices.
11
For A, we expand along column 2 to get
det A = (1)(1) det
_
1 1
1 2
_
+ (1)(1)
2
det
_
1 1
1 2
_
+ 0
= (3) (1) = 4
Notice that det A = 0, so Cramers Rule may be used to solve this system.
We can nd det A(1) most easily by expanding along row 3.
det A(1) = 0 + 0 + (2)(1)
3+3
det
_
6 1
2 1
_
= 2(6 2) = 16
For A(2), we again expand along column 2:
det A(2) = (6)(1) det
_
1 1
1 2
_
+ (2)(1)
2
det
_
1 1
1 2
_
+ 0
= (6)(3) + (2)(1) = 16
For A(3), we exapand along row 3 and get
det A(3) = (1)(1)
3+1
det
_
1 6
1 2
_
+ 0 + 0
= (2 + 6) = 8
Thus, by Cramers rule we get:
x
1
=
det A(1)
det A
=
16
4
= 4
and x
2
=
det A(2)
det A
=
16
4
= 4
and x
3
=
det A(3)
det A
=
8
4
= 2
We see that the unique solution to the given system is (x
1
, x
2
, x
3
) = (4, 4, 2).
12
Example 8. Use Cramers Rule, if possible, to solve the system:
x
1
+x
2
+x
3
= 4
x
1
x
2
+2x
3
= 5
3x
1
+x
2
+4x
3
= 13
Solution: The coecient matrix is A =
_
_
1 1 1
1 1 2
3 1 4
_
_
. By expanding along
the rst row, we see that
det A = det
_
1 2
1 4
_
det
_
1 2
3 4
_
+ det
_
1 1
3 1
_
= 6 (2) + 4 = 0
Since det A = 0, Cramers Rule cannot be used to solve this system. The
system does not have a unique solution. Gauss-Jordan elimination would be
used to solve the system.
Recall that given a square matrix A, we dened the (i, j)-minor, M
ij
, of A
to be the determinant of A
ij
, where A
ij
was the submatrix of A obtained by
deleting the i
th
row and j
th
column of A. We then dened the (i, j)-cofactor,
C
ij
, of A to be (1)
i+j
M
ij
. So
C
ij
= (1)
i+j
M
ij
= (1)
i+j
det A
ij
Denition 19.9. Given a square matrix A, we dene the cofactor matrix of
A, denoted cof A to be
cof A = [c
ij
] where c
ij
= C
ij
i.e. The (i, j)-entry of cof A is the (i, j)-cofactor of A.
Denition 19.10. The classical adjoint, or simply the adjoint, of A is de-
noted AdjA and is the transpose of the cofactor matrix. That is:
AdjA = [cof A]
T
13
Example 9. Find cof A and AdjA, for A =
_
_
1 0 0
0 2 6
0 4 12
_
_
Solution: We have:
cof A =
_
_
C
11
C
12
C
13
C
21
C
22
C
23
C
31
C
32
C
33
_
_
=
_

_
det
_
2 6
4 12
_
det
_
0 6
0 12
_
det
_
0 2
0 4
_
det
_
0 0
4 12
_
det
_
1 0
0 12
_
det
_
1 0
0 4
_
det
_
0 0
2 6
_
det
_
1 0
0 6
_
det
_
1 0
0 2
_
_

_
=
_
_
0 0 0
0 12 4
0 6 2
_
_
Therefore we have:
AdjA = [cof A]
T
=
_
_
0 0 0
0 12 4
0 6 2
_
_
T
=
_
_
0 0 0
0 12 6
0 4 2
_
_
Theorem 19.11. The cofactor matrix of A
T
is equal to the transpose of the
cofactor matrix of A. That is,
AdjA = [cof A]
T
= cof (A
T
)
Notice: This means that to nd AdjA, we can rst take the transpose of
A and then nd the cofactors, so that we dont need to remember to take the
transpose at the end.
14
Example 10. Find AdjA for A =
_
1 2
3 4
_
Solution: We have A =
_
1 2
3 4
_
, so A
T
=
_
1 3
2 4
_
.
We get AdjA =
_
det[4] det[2]
det[3] det[1]
_
=
_
4 2
3 1
_
Example 11. For A =
_
1 2
3 4
_
, nd A(AdjA) and (AdjA)A. Also, nd det A.
Solution: From the previous example, we have AdjA =
_
4 2
3 1
_
So A(AdjA) =
_
1 2
3 4
_ _
4 2
3 1
_
=
_
2 0
0 2
_
and (AdjA)A =
_
4 2
3 1
_ _
1 2
3 4
_
=
_
2 0
0 2
_
.
Also, det A = det
_
1 2
3 4
_
= 4 6 = 2.
Notice what we have here. We see that A (AdjA) = (AdjA) A. More-
over, the matrix product is just a scalar multiple of I, and that scalar is det A.
This is, of course, not a coincidence. For any square matrix A, it is always
true that A (AdjA) = (AdjA) A = (det A)I. So if det A = 0, then we
can divide through by det A to get:
1
det A
A(AdjA) =
1
det A
(AdjA)A = I
That is, we see that:
A
_
1
det A
(AdjA)
_
=
_
1
det A
(AdjA)
_
A = I
But then, this means that
1
det A
(AdjA) is the inverse of A! We have:
15
Theorem 19.12. The Adjoint Form of the Inverse
Suppose A is a square matrix with det A = 0. Then A is invertible, and:
A
1
=
1
det A
AdjA
This gives us a new way to calculate A
1
. It also gives a way to calcu-
late individual entries of A
1
, without having to nd the whole matrix. We
simply need to nd the corresponding entry of AdjA, and multiply it by
1
det A
.
Example 12. Consider A =
_
_
1 2 3
0 1 1
2 2 2
_
_
, with cof A =
_
_
4 2 2
2 4 2
5 1 1
_
_
.
(a)Find the (1,2)-entry of A
1
(b) Find A
1
Solution:
(a) We know that A
1
=
1
det A
AdjA, so the (1,2)-entry of A
1
is given by
1
det A
times the (1,2)-entry of AdjA, which is
1
det A
times the (2,1)-cofactor of
A. Now, expanding the determinant of A along row 2, we have:
det A = (0) + (1)(4) + (1)(1)(2) = 6
and from the given matrix of cofactors we see that the (2,1)-cofactor is 2, so
the (1,2)-entry of A
1
is
1
6
(2) =
1
3
.
(b) Since det A = 6 and A
1
=
1
det A
AdjA =
1
det A
[cof A]
T
, we have:
A
1
=
1
6
_
_
4 2 2
2 4 2
5 1 1
_
_
T
=
1
6
_
_
4 2 5
2 4 1
2 2 1
_
_
=
_

2
3

1
3
5
6
1
3
2
3

1
6
1
3

1
3

1
6
_

_
16