Unit 9

Matrices and Determinant

Content
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Learning Outcome
3.0 Learning Content
3.1 Matrices
3.2 Determinants
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading
1.0 Introduction
Matrix, a set of numbers arranged in rows and columns so as to form a rectangular array. The
numbers are called the elements, or entries, of the matrix. Matrices have wide applications in
engineering, physics, economics, and statistics as well as in various branches of mathematics.
Matrices also have important applications in computer graphics, where they have been used to
represent rotations and other transformations of images. In this unit the basic operation of matrices
such as, addition, subtraction, scalar multiplication and multiplication of two matrices shall be
performed. The determinant of a square matrix is a special number that can be calculated
from a matrix. The computation of the determinant and the inverse of a matrix shall be
studied and solve the system of linear equations with two or more unknowns.

2.0 Learning Outcome

At the end of this unit you should be able to:
1. recognize the dimension or size of a matrix
2. add and subtract two or more matrices
3. multiply a scalar by a matrix
4. multiply two matrices
5. compute the inverse of a given matrix
6. compute the determinant of a matrix
7. Use determinant to solve problems of systems of linear equations.

3.0 Learning Content

3.1 Matrices

In mathematics, a matrix (plural: matrices) is a rectangular table of cells of numbers,

with rows and columns. The rows are each left-to-right (horizontal) lines, and the
columns go top-to-bottom (vertical).

There are rules for adding, subtracting and "multiplying" matrices together, but the rules
are different than for numbers. As an example, does not always give the same
result as , which is the case for the multiplication of ordinary numbers. A matrix
can have more than 2 dimensions, such as a 3D matrix. Also, a matrix can be one-
dimensional, as a single row or column.
Many natural sciences use matrices quite a lot. In many universities, courses about
matrices (usually called linear algebra) are taught very early, sometimes even in the first
year of studies. Matrices are also very common in computer science.

3.1.1 Definitions and Notations

The horizontal lines in a matrix are called rows and the vertical lines are called columns.
A matrix with m rows and n columns is called an m-by-n matrix (or m×n matrix) and m
and n are called its dimensions.

The places in the matrix where the numbers are, are called entries. The entry of a matrix
A that lies in the row number i and column number j is called the i,j entry of A. This is
written as A[i,j] or aij.

We write to define an m × n matrix A with each entry in the matrix called

aij for all 1 ≤ i ≤ m and 1 ≤ j ≤ n.

𝒂𝟏, 𝟏 𝒂1,2 𝒂𝟏, 𝟑 ...

𝒂𝟐, 𝟏 𝒂𝟐, 𝟐 𝒂𝟐, 𝟑 ...
𝒂𝟑, 𝟏 𝒂𝟑, 𝟐 𝒂𝟑, 𝟑 ...
𝑨=
. . . ...
. . . ...
[. . . ... ]

Example

The matrix

is a 4×3 matrix. This matrix has m = 4 rows, and n = 3 columns.

The element A[2,3] or a23 is 7.

3.1.2 Operations of Matrices

Addition
The sum of two matrices is the matrix, which (i,j)-th entry is equal to the sum of the (i,j)-
th entries of two matrices:

The two matrices have the same dimensions. Here is true.

Multiplication of two matrices

The multiplication of two matrices is a bit more complicated:

So with Numbers:

1. two matrices can be multiplied with each other even if they have different
dimensions, as long as the number of columns in the first matrix is equal to the
number of rows in the second matrix.
2. the result of the multiplication, called the product, is another matrix with the same
number of rows as the first matrix and the same number of columns as the second
matrix.
3. the multiplication of matrices is not commutative, this means, in general that

4. the multiplication of matrices is associative, this means

3.1.3 Special matrices

There are some matrices that are special.

Square matrix

A square matrix has the same number of rows as columns, so m=n.

An example of a square matrix is

This matrix has 3 rows and 3 columns: m=n=3.

Identity matrix

Every square dimension set of a matrix has a special counterpart called an "identity
matrix". The identity matrix has nothing but zeroes except on the main diagonal, where
there are all ones. For example:

is an identity matrix. There is exactly one identity matrix for each square dimension set.
An identity matrix is special because when multiplying any matrix by the identity matrix,
the result is always the original matrix with no change.

Inverse matrix

An inverse matrix is a matrix that, when multiplied by another matrix, equals the identity
matrix. For example:

is the inverse of .

One column matrix

A matrix, that has many rows, but only one column, is called a column vector.

Transpose of a Matrix

The transpose of an m-by-n matrix A is the n-by-m matrix AT formed by turning rows into

columns and columns into rows, i.e. . An example is

 A square matrix whose transpose is equal to itself is called a symmetric matrix; that
is, A is symmetric if . An example is

 A square matrix whose transpose is equal to its negative is called skew-symmetric

matrix; that is, A is skew-symmetric if . An example is

Self-Assessment Exercise(s) 1

1. Find the product AB where A and B are matrices given by:

2. Find the product of 𝐴𝑇 𝐵 of the matrices AB above.

3.2 Determinants

The determinant takes a square matrix and returns a number. To understand what the
number means, take each column of the matrix and draw it as a vector. The parallelogram
drawn by those vectors has an area, which is the determinant. For all 2x2 matrices, the
formula is very simple:

For 3x3 matrices the formula is more complicated:

𝑎1 𝑏1 𝑐1
det ([𝑎2 𝑏2 𝑐2 ]) = 𝑎1 (𝑏2 𝑐3 − 𝑐2 𝑏3 ) − 𝑏1 (𝑎2 𝑐3 − 𝑎3 𝑐2 ) + 𝑐1 (𝑎2 𝑏3 − 𝑎3 𝑏2 )
𝑎3 𝑏3 𝑐3
There are no simple formulas for the determinants of larger matrices, and many computer
programmers study how to get computers to quickly find large determinants.

Properties of determinants

There are three rules that all determinants follow. These are:

1. The determinant of an identity matrix is 1

2. If two rows or two columns of the matrix are exchanged, then the determinant is
multiplied by -1. Mathematicians call this alternating.
3. If all the numbers in one row or column are multiplied by another number n, then the
determinant is multiplied by n. Also, if a matrix M has a column v that is the sum of
two column matrices and , then the determinant of M is the sum of the
determinants of M with in place of v and M with in place of v. These two conditions
are called multi-linearity.

Solution of Systems of Linear Equations

1. Solve the system of simultaneous linear equations

3𝑥 + 2𝑦 + 𝑧 = 0
𝑥 − 𝑦 + 3𝑧 = 0
2𝑥 + 3𝑦 − 2𝑧 = 0
Solution
The matrix equation is
3 2 1 𝑥 0
[1 -1 ]
3 𝑦 ( ) = ( 0)
2 3 -2 𝑧 0
So the augmented matrix is
3 2 1 : 0
(1 -1 3 : 0 )
2 3 -2 : 0

The elementary row operations that reduced this matrix are as follows:
3 2 1 : 0  1 -1 3 : 0
 
1 - 1 3 : 0  3
( 2 1 : 0 )
2 - 2 : 0  2 3 -2 : 0
 3
𝑅2 → 𝑅2 − 3𝑅1
𝑅3 → 𝑅3 − 2𝑅1 𝑅3 → 𝑅3 − 𝑅2
1 -1 3 : 0 1 -1 3 : 0
(0 5 -8 : 0 ) (0 5 -8 : 0 )
0 5 -8 : 0 0 0 0 : 0
 1
𝑅1 → 𝑅1 + 𝑅2
5
1
𝑅2 → 𝑅2
5
7
1 0 : 0
5
8
0 1 - : 0
5
(0 0 0 : 0 )
This implies the system is equivalent to
7
𝑥+ 𝑧=0
5
8
𝑦− 𝑧=0
5
It is thus possible to solve for x and y in terms of the unknown z. thus, if we let z =1, we
get
7
𝑥 −
5
(𝑦 ) = 8
𝑧 5
(1 )

Hence, any solution is of the form

7 7
− − 𝑐
5 5
𝑐 8 = 8
𝑐
5 5
(1 ) (𝑐 )

For example, if c = 5, then we get the solution

−7 7
(8 ) and if c = -5 we get the solution (−8)
5 −5
if c = 0 we obtain the trivial solution
0
(0 )
0
2. Solve the following system of linear equations
 𝑥 + 3𝑦 + 2𝑧 = −13
2𝑥 − 6𝑦 + 3𝑧 = 32
3𝑥 − 4𝑦 − 𝑧 = 12
Solution
The solution requires the values of four determinants: the denominator, the
determinant of the coefficient matrix A.
1 3 2
|𝐴| = |2 -6 3 | = 1(6 + 12) − 3(−2 − 9) + 2(−8 + 18)
3 -4 -1
= 18 + 33 + 20 = 71

The denominator of x
−13 3 2
|𝐴𝑥 | = |32 -6 3| = −13(6 + 12) − 3(−32 − 36) + 2(−128 + 72)
12 -4 -1
= −234 + 204-112 = -142

The denominator of y
1 -13 2
|𝐴𝑦 | = |2 32 3 | = 1(−32 − 36) − (−13)(−2 − 9) + 2(24 − 96)
3 12 -1
= -68-143-144 = -355
The denominator of z
1 3 − 13
|𝐴𝑧 | = |2 -6 32| = 1(−72 + 128) − 3(24 − 96) + (−13)(−8 + 18)
3 -4 12
= 56 + 216-130 = 142
Then
|𝐴𝑥 | 142
𝑥= =− = −2
|𝐴| 71
|𝐴𝑦 | 355
𝑦= =− = −5
|𝐴| 71
|𝐴𝑧 | 142
𝑧= = =2
|𝐴| 71

Self-Assessment Exercise(s) 2

−2 −1 0
1. Find the determinant of the matrices A = [−3 5 −2]
0 8 −1
2. Example: Use Cramer's rule for a 3 by 3 system of linear equations to
solve the following system
2x - y + 3z = -3
-x - y + 3z = -6
x - 2y - z = -2
4.0 Conclusion
In this unit you have studied matrices, determinant, basic operations of matrices and
determinant. We also studied the solutions of systems of linear equations using
determinant.

5.0 Summary
In this unit you studied:
1. Addition and subtraction of matrices.
2. Multiplication of matrices.
3. Transpose of a matrices 𝐴 = 𝐴𝑇
4. Inverse of a matrices is equal to identity matrix.
5. A square matrix has the same number of rows as columns, so m=n.
6. The determinant takes a square matrix and returns a number.
7. For all 2x2 matrices, the formula is very simple:

8. For 3x3 matrices the formula is more complicated:

𝑎1 𝑏1 𝑐1
𝑎
det ([ 2 𝑏2 𝑐2 ]) = 𝑎1 (𝑏2 𝑐3 − 𝑐2 𝑏3 ) − 𝑏1 (𝑎2 𝑐3 − 𝑎3 𝑐2 ) + 𝑐1 (𝑎2 𝑏3 − 𝑎3 𝑏2 )
𝑎3 𝑏3 𝑐3

6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment

2 -1 3 1 3 1 -2 5
1. Let 𝐴 = [ ] and 𝐵 = [ ] . Determine 𝐴 + 𝐵.
1 2 5 7 2 -2 4 7

3 4 -1 -4 2 -1
2. Let 𝐴 = [7 -8 2 ] and 𝐵 = [3 -1 8 ] . Determine 𝐴 − 𝐵.
9 -1 3 4 9 0
 1 0
1 -1 3 0
0 -3
3. Compute AB if 𝐴 = [0 6 4 1 ] and 𝐵 = [ ].
2 1
3 4 -2 1
-1 4
2 3 -1
4. Let 𝐴 = [ ] Compute A𝑇 .
5 1 0

1 3 4
5. Evaluate |2 4 3|
0 0 0
6. Solve the systems of equations
𝑥 + 𝑦 + 𝑧 = −2
2𝑥 + 6𝑦 − 𝑧 = 3
3𝑥 + 2𝑦 + 3𝑧 = −4

7.0 References/Further Reading

Odili G. A. (2000), Algebra for Colleges and Universities: An Integrated Approach.
Anachuna Educational Books.
Akinnola V. J., Mohammed J., Aiyesimi Y. M., Akinwande N. I., and Ogunfiditimi E.
O.(2005), College Algebra and Trigonometry. Y- Books.
Tuttuh-Adegun, Sivasubramniam S., Adekoge R. (2003) Further Mathematics Project 2.
NPS Educational.
Tuttuh-Adegun, Sivasubramniam S., Adekoge R. (2008) Further Mathematics Project 1.
NPS Educational.