MA 110

Linear Algebra and Differential Equations

Lecture 08

Prof. Sudhir R. Ghorpade

Department of Mathematics
IIT Bombay
http://www.math.iitb.ac.in/∼srg/

Spring 2025

Prof. S. R. Ghorpade, IIT Bombay Linear Algebra: Lecture 08

Review of last lecture
We have discussed the following important notions.
Rank of a matrix
Vector subspaces (of Rn×1 ).
Basis of a subspace
Dimension of a subspace
Span of a subset of a vector subspace.
Null space and the column space of a matrix.
And we proved several important results such as:
Characterizations of a basis of a vector subspace
Rank-Nullity Theorem
Fundamental Theorem for Linear Systems:
We also saw how a basis of the row space R(A) and a basis of
the column space C(A) of a matrix A can be found by looking
at a row echelon form of A.
Prof. S. R. Ghorpade, IIT Bombay Linear Algebra: Lecture 08
Determinants
You already know formulas for determinants of 1 × 1, 2 × 2
and 3 × 3 matrices. Let us recall them.
 
  a1 b1
det a1 = a1 , det = a1 b2 − a2 b1 and
a2 b2
 
a1 b1 c1
det a2 b2 c2  = a1 (b2 c3 −b3 c2 )−b1 (a2 c3 −a3 c2 )+c1 (a2 b3 −a3 b2 ),
a3 b3 c3
which is also equal to
a1 (b2 c3 − b3 c2 ) − a2 (b1 c3 − b3 c1 ) + a3 (b1 c2 − b2 c1 ).

We shall presently give formulas for the determinant of an

n × n matrix, that is, of a matrix of size n, where n ∈ N, and
we shall explore their use in matrix theory.
Prof. S. R. Ghorpade, IIT Bombay Linear Algebra: Lecture 08
  
a11 · · · a1k ··· a1n
 .. .. .. 
 . . . 
 
 aj1 · · · ···
ajk ajn  n×n
Let n ∈ N and let A :=  ∈R .
 .. .. .. 
 . . . 
an1 · · · ank ··· ann
The determinant of A is a real number defined inductively as
follows. For n := 1, define det A := a11 . Let n ≥ 2, and
suppose we have defined the determinant of any
(n − 1)×(n − 1) matrix. For j, k = 1, . . . , n, let Ajk denote
the submatrix of A obtained by deleting the jth row and the
kth column of A, and let Mjk := det Ajk , called the (j, k)th
minor of A. Define

det A := a11 M11 −a12 M12 +· · ·+(−1)1+k a1k M1k +· · ·+(−1)1+n a1n M1n .

This is also known as the expansion for the determinant of

A in terms of the first row of A.
Prof. S. R. Ghorpade, IIT Bombay Linear Algebra: Lecture 08
An immediate consequence of our definition is the following.
Proposition
If A is lower triangular, then the determinant of A is the
product of its diagonal entries.
Proof. det A = a11 M11 since a12 = · · · = a1n = 0, etc.
Next, it can be proved by induction on the size n of a matrix
that det A is equal to the following expansions in terms of the
jth row of A, and also in terms of the kth column of A:
Xn
det A = (−1)j+k ajk Mjk for each j ∈ {1, . . . , n}
k=1
n
X
det A = (−1)j+k ajk Mjk for each k ∈ {1, . . . , n}
j=1

(For a proof, see Kreyszig, Appendix 4, page A81.)

Note: The signs (−1)j+k follow a zigzag pattern.
Prof. S. R. Ghorpade, IIT Bombay Linear Algebra: Lecture 08
Proposition
Let A be a square matrix. Then det AT = det A.

Proof. This is obvious if n = 1. Let now n ≥ 2, and assume

this property for all (n − 1)×(n − 1) matrices. Note that
(AT )jk = (Akj )T for all j, k = 1, . . . , n, that is, the submatrix
obtained by deleting the jth row and the kth column of AT is
the same as the transpose of the submatrix obtained by
deleting the kth row and the jth column of A. (For example,
   
a11 a12 a13 a11 a21 a31
A := a21 a22 a23  =⇒ AT =  a12 a22 a32  ,
a31 a32 a33 a13 a23 a33
   T
T a21 a31 a21 a23
so that (A )21 = = = (A12 )T .)
a23 a33 a31 a33

Prof. S. R. Ghorpade, IIT Bombay Linear Algebra: Lecture 08

 0 0
Let A := [ajk ] and AT := [ajk ]. Then ajk = akj and
Mjk0 := det(AT )jk = det(Akj )T = det Akj = Mkj by the
inductive hypothesis for j, k = 1, . . . , n. Expanding det AT in
terms of its first row, and det A in terms of its first column,
0 0 0 0 0 0
det AT = a11 M11 − a12 M12 + · · · + (−1)1+n a1n M1n
= a11 M11 − a21 M21 + · · · + (−1)n+1 an1 Mn1
= det A.

Corollary
If A is upper triangular, then the determinant of A is the
product of its diagonal entries.

Proof. Let A be upper triangular. Then AT is lower triangular

and has the same diagonal entries as those of A.
 
Let us write A := c1 · · · ck · · · cn in terms of its n
columns.
Prof. S. R. Ghorpade, IIT Bombay Linear Algebra: Lecture 08
Crucial Properties of the determinant function A 7−→ det A
from Rn×n to R:
1. [Multilinearity] If k ∈ {1, . . . , n} and ck = α c0k + β c00k for
some α, β ∈R and column vectors c0k , c00k ∈ Rn×1 , then
det A = det c1 · · · α c0k + β c00k · ·· cn is equal to
α det c1 · · · c0k · · · cn + β det c1 · · · c00k · · · cn .
 

This is proved by expanding det A in terms of its kth column.

Note that the multilinearity implies that det(αA) = αn det A.
2. [Alternating Property] Suppose n ≥ 2. If ck = c` for some
k 6= `, then det A = 0, that is, if 2 columns of a matrix are
identical, then its determinant is 0. This is clear for n = 2, and
for n ≥ 3, this is proved using induction on n, by expanding
det A in terms of a column cp of A, where p 6= k and p 6= `.
3. [Normalization Property] det I = 1 , that is, the
determinant of the identity matrix is equal to 1.
This is obvious.
Prof. S. R. Ghorpade, IIT Bombay Linear Algebra: Lecture 08
Proposition
Let A be a square matrix.
(i) If two columns of A are interchanged, then det A gets
multiplied by −1.
(ii) Addition of a multiple of a column to another column of A
does not alter det A.
(iii) Multiplication of a column of A by a scalar α results in
the multiplication of det A by α.
 
Proof: Let A := c1 · · · ck · · · c` · · · cn , where k 6= `.
 
(i) Define α := det c1 · · · (ck + c` ) · · · (ck + c` ) · · · cn .
Then α = 0 since the matrix has two identical columns.
On the other
 hand, α = β + γ, where 
β := det  c1 · · · (ck + c` ) · · · ck · · · cn and
γ := det c1 · · · (ck + c` ) · · · c` · · · cn .
Prof. S. R. Ghorpade, IIT Bombay Linear Algebra: Lecture 08
In turn, β := β1 + β2 and γ = γ1 + γ2 , where
 
β1 = det c1 · · · ck · · · ck · · · cn ,
 
β2 = det c1 · · · c` · · · ck · · · cn ,
 
γ1 = det c1 · · · ck · · · c` · · · cn ,
 
γ2 = det c1 · · · c` · · · c` · · · cn .

But β1 = 0 = γ2 since two columns are identical. Since

0 =α = β + γ = β2 + γ1 , we see that γ1 = −β2 , that is,
det c1 · · · ck · · · c` · · · cn is equal to
− det c1 · · · c` · · · ck · · · cn , as desired.
(ii) Suppose α times the `th column of A is added to the kth
column of A. Then det c1 · · · (ck + α c` ) · · · c` · · · cn is
equal to det A + α det c1 · · · c` · · · c` · · · cn = det A.
(iii)Suppose the kth column
 of A is multiplied by α. Then
det c1 · · · α ck · · · cn = α det c1 · · · ck · · · cn = α det A.
Prof. S. R. Ghorpade, IIT Bombay Linear Algebra: Lecture 08
Corollary
Let A be a square matrix.
(i) If two rows of A are interchanged, then det A gets
multiplied by −1.
(ii) Addition of a multiple of a row to another row of A does
not alter det A.
(iii) Multiplication of a row of A by a scalar α results in the
multiplication of det A by α.

Proof. Since the columns of AT are the rows of A, and since

det A = det AT , these results follow from the previous
proposition.
The above corollary can be used to find det A as follows.
Transform A to A0 by EROs of type I and type II, where A0 is
in REF, keeping track of the number of row interchanges.
Prof. S. R. Ghorpade, IIT Bombay Linear Algebra: Lecture 08
Now A0 is an upper triangular matrix. Let p be the number of
0 0
row interchanges, and let a11 , . . . , ann be the diagonal entries
0 0 0 0
of A . Then det A = (−1) det A = (−1)p a11
p
· · · ann .
Example    
0 2 0 −1 1 2 1 −1
1 2 1 −1 R1 ←→R2 0
  2 0 −1
Let A := 
0 0 −−−−−→  
3 2 0 0 3 2
1 −2 1 −2 1 −2 1 −2
   
1 2 1 −1 1 2 1 −1
R4 −R1 0
 2 0 −1 R4 +2R2 0 2
  0 −1
 = A0 .
−− −→  −−−−→ 
0 0 3 2 0 0 3 2
0 −4 0 −1 0 0 0 −3
Since there is only one row interchange while transforming A
to A0 , since A0 is in REF, and since
det A0 = 1 · 2 · 3 · (−3) = −18, we see that
det A = (−1)(−18) = 18.
Prof. S. R. Ghorpade, IIT Bombay Linear Algebra: Lecture 08
We give a criterion for the invertibility of a square matrix in
terms of its determinant.
Proposition
A square matrix A is invertible if and only if det A 6= 0.

Proof. Suppose A is invertible. We have seen that A can be

transformed to its RCF, namely to I, by EROs. Suppose this
process involves p row interchanges (that is, EROs of type I)
and multiplications of rows by the nonzero scalars α1 , . . . , αq
(that is, EROs of type III). Then
det(A) = (−1)p (α1 · · · αq )−1 det I = (−1)p (α1 · · · αq )−1 6= 0.
Conversely, suppose A is not invertible. Then the column rank
of A is less than the number of columns of A. Hence one of
its columns is a linear combination of the other columns.
WLOG, we suppose that it is the first column, that is,
c1 = α2 c2 + · · · + αk ck + · · · + αn cn , where α2 , . . . , αn ∈ R.
Prof. S. R. Ghorpade, IIT Bombay Linear Algebra: Lecture 08
By the first two crucial properties of the determinant function,
 
det A = c1 c2 · · · ck · · · cn
 
= α2 c2 +· · ·+ αk ck +· · ·+ αn cn c2 · · · ck · · · cn
 
= α2 c2 c2 · · · ck · · · cn + · · ·
 
αk ck c2 · · · ck · · · cn + · · ·
 
αn cn c2 · · · ck · · · cn
= 0 + · · · + 0 + · · · + 0 = 0.
Remark We have given several criteria for the invertibility of
an n×n matrix A. We list them below.
(i) The linear system Ax = 0 has 0 as the only solution.
(ii) There is a matrix B such that BA = I or AB = I.
(iii) The RCF of A is I.
(iv) rank A = n.
(v) nullity(A) = 0,
(vi) det A 6= 0.
Prof. S. R. Ghorpade, IIT Bombay Linear Algebra: Lecture 08