If the matrix A is such that
then the determinant of A is equal to
(A)
0
(B)
1
(C)
2
(D)
3
Answer: (A)
Explanation:
This is a numerical answer question of gate paper, in which no options are provided, and the answer is to given by filling a numeral into a text box provided.
In the question, matrix A is given as the product of 2 matrices which are of order 3 x 1 and 1 x 3 respectively. So after multiplication of these matrices, matrix A would be a square matrix of order 3 x 3.
So, matrix A is :
Now, we can observe by looking at the matrix that row 2 can be made completely zero by using row 1, this is to be done by using the row operation of matrix which here is : R2 <- R2 + 2R1 After applying above row operation in the matrix, the resultant matrix would be: 2 18 10 0 0 0 7 63 35 i.e. Row 2 has become zero now. And if a square matrix has a row or column with all its elements as 0, then its determinant is 0. ( A property of a square matrix ) Hence answer is 0. Note: Determinant is defined only for square matrices, and it is a number which encodes certain properties of a matrix, for ex: a square matrix with determinant 0 does not has its inverse matrix.
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