Question

What is the order of determinants?

Answer 1

The determinant is a scalar value obtained by the sum of products of the elements of a square matrix and their cofactors according to a prescribed rule.

If $A$ is a matrix, then the determinant of a matrix is represented by $\left|A\right|$ or $det\left(A\right)$.

Depending on the size of the matrix, the determinants are named.

• First-order determinant: The determinant of the matrix of order $1\times 1$, which is nothing but the element itself.
• Second-order determinant: The determinant of the matrix of order $2\times 2$.
• Third-order determinant: The determinant of the matrix of order $3\times 3$.

And so on.