DETERMINANT

Determinant

In linear algebra, the determinant is a value associated with a square matrix. It can be computed from the entries of the matrix by a specific arithmetic expression, while other ways to determine its value exist as well. The determinant provides important information about a matrix of coefficients of a system of linear equations, or about a matrix that corresponds to a linear transformation of a vector space. In the first case the system has a unique solution exactly when the determinant is nonzero; when the determinant is zero there are either no solutions or many solutions. In the second case the transformation has an inverse operation exactly when the ...

The above text is a snippet from Wikipedia: Determinant
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determinant

Noun

  1. A determining factor; an element that determines the nature of something
  2. The unique scalar function over square matrices which is distributive over matrix multiplication, multilinear in the rows and columns, and takes the value of 1 for the unit matrix. Abbreviation: det
  3. A substance that causes a cell to adopt a particular fate.

Adjective

  1. Serving to determine or limit; determinative.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: determinant
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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