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Question 570183: Can't solve this determinant
2 5 0 4
1 -2 0 2
3 -1 1 6
4 0 3 -2
Answer by richard1234(7193) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! For this square matrix, the determinant is equal to
2 det A - 5 det B + 0 det C - 4 det D
where A,B,C,D are the 3x3 matrices whose entries are neither in a row or column of the top entry (e.g. matrix A would contain -2 0 2/-1 1 6/0 3 -2). Additionally, you would have to find the determinant of 3x3 matrices, which reduces to a several 2x2 matrices.
Since this problem requires a lot of "bashing" (not the correct word usage, but math people use it all the time), you could use a calculator. Most graphing calculators can evaluate determinants of square matrices.
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