2018/02/12

Quote for the week …

Matrices, Determinants “Success is not final.

and Cramer’s Rule
Chapter 24 & 25 Failure is not fatal. It
is the courage to
continue that
Compiled by R Durandt and material from Cengage Learning. Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
counts.” By W Churchill
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Objectives Matrices
► Definition of a m × n matrix

► Determinant of a 2  2 Matrix

► Determinant of an n  n Matrix

► Cramer’s Rule

Compiled by R Durandt & Material

3 form Cengage Learning 4

Determinants and Cramer’s Rule

If a matrix is square (that is, if it has the same
number of rows as columns), then we can assign to it
a number called its determinant.

Determinants can be used to solve systems of

linear equations, as we will see later in this section. Determinant of a 2  2 Matrix
They are also useful in determining whether a
matrix has an inverse (relevant for the second
semester).

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Determinant of a 2  2 Matrix Example 1 – Determinant of a 2  2 Matrix

We denote the determinant of a square matrix A by
the symbol det (A) or |A|. We first define det (A) for Evaluate |A| for A =
the simplest cases. If A = [a] is a 1  1 matrix, then
det (A) = a. Solution:

The following box gives the definition of a 2  2 = 6  3 – (–3)2

determinant.
= 18 – (–6)

= 24

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Determinant of an n  n Matrix
To define the concept of determinant for an arbitrary
n  n matrix, we need the following terminology.

Determinant of an n  n Matrix

Or the notation 𝑪𝒊𝒋

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Determinant of an n  n Matrix Determinant of an n  n Matrix

For example, if A is the matrix Similarly,

=22–30=4

then the minor M12 is the determinant of the matrix obtained

by deleting the first row and second column from A. Thus
So C33 = (–1)3+3M33 = 4.

= 0(6) – 4(–2) = 8

So the cofactor (A12) C12 = (–1)1+2 M12 = –8.

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Determinant of an n  n Matrix Determinant of an n  n Matrix

Note that the cofactor of aij is simply the minor of aij We are now ready to define the determinant of any
multiplied by either 1 or –1, depending on whether i square matrix.
+ j is even or odd.

Thus in a 3  3 matrix we obtain the cofactor of any

element by prefixing its minor with the sign obtained
from the following checkerboard pattern.

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Example 2 – Determinant of a 3  3 Matrix Example 2 – Solution cont’d

Evaluate the determinant of the matrix. = 2(2  6 – 4  5) – 3[0  6 – 4(–2)] – [0  5 – 2(– 2)]

= –16 – 24 – 4

= –44
Solution:

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Determinant of an n  n Matrix Example 3 – Expanding a Determinant About a Row and a Column

In our definition of the determinant we used the Let A be the matrix of Example 2. Evaluate the
cofactors of elements in the first row only. determinant of A by expanding:

This is called expanding the determinant by the (a) by the second row
first row. In fact, we can expand the determinant by (b) by the third column
any row or column in the same way and obtain the
same result in each case (although we won’t prove
this).

The next example illustrates this principle.

Verify that each expansion gives the same value.
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Example 3(a) – Solution Example 3(b) – Solution cont’d

Expanding by the second row, we get Expanding by the third column gives

= 0 + 2 [2  6 – (–1)(–2)] – 4 [2  5 – 3(–2)] = – [0  5 – 2(–2)] – 4 [2  5 – 3(–2)] + 6(2  2 – 3  0)

= 0 + 20 – 64 = –4 – 64 + 24

= –44 19 = –44 20

Example 3(b) – Solution cont’d

Determinant of an n  n Matrix
The following criterion allows us to determine whether
In both cases we obtain the a square matrix has an inverse without actually
calculating the inverse.
same value for the
determinant as when we This is one of the most important uses of the
determinant in matrix algebra, and it is the reason for
expanded by the first row in the name determinant.

Example 2.

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Cramer’s Rule
The solutions of linear equations can sometimes be
expressed by using determinants. To illustrate, let’s solve
the following pair of linear equations for the variable x.

Cramer’s Rule
To eliminate the variable y, we multiply the first equation by
d and the second by b and subtract.

adx + bdy = rd
bcx + bdy = bs
adx – bcx = rd – bs
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Cramer’s Rule Cramer’s Rule

The numerator and denominator of the fractions for x
Factoring the left-hand side, we get (ad – bc)x = rd – bs.
Assuming that ad – bc  0, we can now solve this equation and y are determinants of 2  2 matrices.
for x: So we can express the solution of the system using
determinants as follows.

Similarly, we find

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Cramer’s Rule Example 5 – Using Cramer’s Rule to Solve a System with Two Variables

Using the notation

Use Cramer’s Rule to solve the system.

Solution:
For this system we have

we can write the solution of the system as

= 2  8 – 6  1 = 10

= -(1)8 – 6  2 = –20

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Example 5 – Solution cont’d

Cramer’s Rule
Cramer’s Rule gives us an efficient way to solve
= 2  2 – (–1)1 = 5 systems of linear equations.
The solution is
But in systems with more than three equations,
evaluating the various determinants that are involved
is usually a long and tedious task (unless you are
using a graphing calculator).

Moreover, the rule doesn’t apply if |D| = 0 or if D is not

a square matrix.
So Cramer’s Rule is a useful alternative to Gaussian
29 elimination, but only in some situations. 30

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HOMEWORK QUESTIONS
• Page 282 Practice Exercise 106
numbers 1 – 4 & 6.
• Page 284 Practice Exercise 108
numbers 1 - 6.
• Page 294 Practice Exercise 112
numbers 1 & 2.
Check your answers in the section
‘Answers to Practise Exercises’ at the
back of your textbook. 31