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Two Simple Proofs For Cramer's Rule: Frank The Giant Bunny April 9, 2016

This document presents two simple proofs of Cramer's rule for solving linear systems. The first proof uses the matrix determinant lemma to relate the determinant of the matrix with the system's right hand side replaced in one column to the original matrix's determinant. The second proof views the solution as a determinant and directly relates the determinant of the matrix with the right hand side in one column to the original matrix. Both proofs directly show the formula for Cramer's rule without using cofactor expansions.

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87 views1 page

Two Simple Proofs For Cramer's Rule: Frank The Giant Bunny April 9, 2016

This document presents two simple proofs of Cramer's rule for solving linear systems. The first proof uses the matrix determinant lemma to relate the determinant of the matrix with the system's right hand side replaced in one column to the original matrix's determinant. The second proof views the solution as a determinant and directly relates the determinant of the matrix with the right hand side in one column to the original matrix. Both proofs directly show the formula for Cramer's rule without using cofactor expansions.

Uploaded by

AY6061
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Two Simple Proofs for Cramer’s Rule

Frank the Giant Bunny


April 9, 2016

Given a non-singular linear system Ax = b, Cramer’s rule states xk = det Ak


det A where Ak is obtained from
th
A by replacing the k column A∗k by b; that is,

Ak = A∗1 , · · · , A∗k−1 , b, A∗k+1 , · · · , A∗n = A + (b − A∗k )e|k


 
(1)

where ek is the k th unit vector. The proof for Cramer’s rule usually begins with writing down the cofactor
expansion of det A. This note explains two alternative and simple approaches.
As explained in the page 476 of Meyer’s textbook1 , one can exploit the rank-one update form in (1). The
Matrix Determinant Lemma states that

det(A + xy | ) = (1 + y | A-1 x) det A

where A is an n × n non-singular matrix and two vectors x, y are n × 1 column vectors. Then

det Ak = det A + (b − A∗k )e|k



by definition of Ak
 | -1
= 1 + ek A (b − A∗k ) det A by Matrix Determinant Lemma
 |
= 1 + ek (x − ek ) det A Ax = b and Aek = A∗k
e|k x = xk and e|k ek = 1

= 1 + (xk − 1) det A
= xk det A by canceling out

which completes the proof.


Another simple proof due to Stephen M. Robinson2 begins by viewing xk as a determinant
 
xk = det Ik = det e1 · · · , ek−1 , x, ek+1 , · · · , en

where Ik is obtained from the identity matrix I by replacing the k th column by x. Then AIk directly yields
the matrix Ak in (1) without resort to rank-one update.
 
AIk = A e1 · · · , ek−1 , x, ek+1 , · · · , en
 
= Ae1 · · · , Aek−1 , Ax, Aek+1 , · · · , Aen
 
= A∗1 , · · · , A∗k−1 , b, A∗k+1 , · · · , A∗n
= Ak

Then,
det Ak
xk = det Ik = det A-1 AIk = det A-1 Ak = det A-1 det Ak =
det A
which exploits the fact that det M -1 = 1/ det M and det M N = det M det N for two square matrices M
and N of the same size.
1 Carl D. Meyer, Matrix Analysis and Applied Linear Algebra, SIAM, 2001.
2 Stephen M. Robinson, “A Short Proof of Cramer’s Rule”, Mathematics Magazine, 43(2), 94–95, 1970.

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