Determinant of a Matrix --- Generic Function

DESCRIPTION:

Computes the determinant (or its logarithm) of a square matrix. .LB Matrix

This function is an S Version 3 generic (see Methods); method functions can be written to handle specific S Version 3 classes of data. Classes which already have methods for this function include:
, , , , , , , , .

USAGE:

det(x, logarithm = T, ...) 

REQUIRED ARGUMENTS:

x
a square Matrix. No missing values or IEEE special values are allowed.

OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS:

logarithm
logical value telling whether to compute the logarithm of the magnitude of the determinant, or the actual magnitude.
...
additional parameters, for example tuning constants for underlying code.

VALUE:

Returns an object of class "det" .

BACKGROUND:

If A is a square matrix, then det(A) is the product of the eigenvalues of A . It is not necessary to compute eigenvalues in order to compute a determinant, however. Golub, G., and Van Loan, C. F. (1989). Matrix Computations, 2nd edition, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore.

SEE ALSO:

, , .

EXAMPLES:

library(Matrix) 
x <- Matrix( rnorm(9), 3, 3) 
det(x)