Properties of Determinants 7
7) The expansion of a determinant by alien cofactors (the
cofactors of a “wrong” row or column) always yields zero:
(i) Expansion by i-th row; cofactors of k-th row:
a
j 1
ij Ckj 0 (k i)
(ii) Expansion by j-th column; cofactors of k-th column:
n
a
i 1
ij Cik 0 (k j )
Expansion by Alien Cofactors
Ex: Expand A using the 2nd row elements but the cofactors
of the 1st row elements
a b c
A d e f
g h i
Expansion by Alien Cofactors 2
Reason for result: The expansion is the same as the
regular expansion by 1st row of the matrix A* below
d e f
A* d e f
g h i
Linear dependence ==> |A*| = 0
Plan for Today
Finding A-1
Solution to a system of linear equations
Theinverse matrix method
Cramer’s rule
Examples
Matrix Inversion
Suppose A below is non-singular:
a11 a12 ... a1n
a a22 ... a2 n
A 21
... ... ... ...
an1 an 2 ... ann
We can use Property 7 to find A-1 as follows:
Step 1: Replace each aij with |Cij| to get a cofactor matrix C:
C = [|Cij|]
Matrix Inversion 2
Step 2: Form the transpose C’, called the adjoint of A:
C11 C21 Cn1
C12 C22 Cn 2
C ' adjA
( nxn )
C1n C2 n Cnn
Note that C’ is nn ==> can be pre-multiplied by A
Matrix Inversion 3
Step 3: Pre-multiply C’ by A (a 2 x 2 example):
Matrix Inversion 3
Step 3: Pre-multiply C’ by A to get
n n n
a1 j C1 j a 1j C2 j a1 j Cnj
j 1 j 1 j 1
n n n
a2 j C1 j a 2j C2 j a2 j Cnj
AC ' j 1 j 1 j 1
( nxn )
n
n n
anj C1 j a nj C2 j a1 j Cnj
j 1 j 1 j 1
Matrix Inversion 4
Step 4:
(i) Property 7 ==> in AC’, the elements off the main
diagonal are all = 0
(ii) The elements on the main diagonal are all = |A|
A 0 ... 0
0 A 0 0
AC '
n n ... ... ... ...
0 0 0 A
1 1
==> A adj A
A
Matrix Inversion: Example
3 2
Ex: A
0 5
Solution to a System of
Linear Equations
Solution to a System of Linear Equations
A vector x* s.t. Ax* = d is called a solution
If Ax = d has a solution, it is said to be consistent.
Otherwise, it is inconsistent.
Recall: If A is square and nonsingular, then x* is
unique and can be obtained as:
x* = A-1 d
Solution to a System of Linear Equations 2
Def: The equation
Ax = 0
is called a homogeneous equation
The solution x* = 0 to a homogeneous equation is
called the trivial solution
A solution x* ≠ 0 is a nontrivial solution
If A is non-singular, Ax = 0 has only a trivial solution:
x* = A-10 = 0
Solution to a System of Linear Equations
2 x1 3 x2 7
Ex 1: Find the solution to
x1 4 x2 6
2 x1 3 x2 7
x1 4 x2 6
Example 2
tx1 x2 1
2 x2 x3 3
x1 x2 x3 0
tx1 x2 1
2 x2 x3 3
x1 x2 x3 0
1
x A d
* 1
AdjA d
A
1 1 1 1
1
1 t t 3
t 1
2 t 1 2t 0
Cramer’s Rule
Let Aj be the matrix obtained from A by replacing the
j-th column with d :
a11 a12 ... d1 ... a1n
a ... d2 ... a2n
21 a22
Aj
... ... ... ... ... ...
an1 an2 ... dn ... ann
Cramer’s Rule: If x* solves Ax = d, then
Aj
x
*
j
A
Cramer’s Rule 2
Note: |A| ≠ 0 is necessary for the application of
Cramer’s Rule!
The rule is based on the concept of A-1, even though
in practice it bypasses the process of matrix
inversion
