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3: Determinants and Diagonalization

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    58847
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    The cofactor expansion is stated (proved by induction later) and used to define determinants inductively and to deduce the basic rules. The product and adjugate theorems are proved. Then the diagonalization algorithm is presented (motivated by an example about the possible extinction of a species of birds). As requested by our Engineering Faculty, this is done earlier than in most texts because it requires only determinants and matrix inverses, avoiding any need for subspaces, independence and dimension. Eigenvectors of a 2×2 matrix A are described geometrically (using the A-invariance of lines through the origin). Diagonalization is then used to study discrete linear dynamical systems and to discuss applications to linear recurrences and systems of differential equations. A brief discussion of Google PageRank is included.

    Thumbnail: The volume of this parallelepiped is the absolute value of the determinant of the matrix formed by the columns constructed from the vectors r1, r2, and r3. (CC BY 3.0; Claudio Rocchini via Wikipedia)


    This page titled 3: Determinants and Diagonalization is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by W. Keith Nicholson via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.