Transpose of a Matrix

A matrix which is formed by turning all the rows of a given matrix into columns and viceversa. The transpose of matrix A is written AT.

Cofactor Matrix Matrix of Cofactors A matrix with elements that are the cofactors, term-by-term, of a given square matrix.

Adjoint The matrix formed by taking the transpose of the cofactor matrix of a given original matrix. The adjoint of matrix A is often written adj A. Note: This is in fact only one type of adjoint. More generally, an adjoint of a matrix is any mapping of a matrix which possesses certain properties. Consult a book on linear algebra for more information.

Example:

Find the adjoint of the following matrix:

Solution:

First find the cofactor of each element.

As a result the cofactor matrix of A is

Finally the adjoint of A is the transpose of the cofactor matrix:

Inverse of a Matrix Matrix Inverse Multiplicative Inverse of a Matrix For a square matrix A, the inverse is written A-1. When A is multiplied by A-1 the result is the identity matrix I. Non-square matrices do not have inverses. Note: Not all square matrices have inverses. A square matrix which has an inverse is called invertible or nonsingular, and a square matrix without an inverse is called noninvertible or singular.

AA-1 = A-1A = I

Example:

For matrix since

, its inverse is

AA-1 =

and A-1A =

Here are three ways to find the inverse of a matrix:

1. Shortcut for 2x2 matrices

For

, the inverse can be found using this formula:

Example:

2. Augmented matrix method Use Gauss-Jordan elimination to transform [ A | I ] into [ I | A-1 ].

Example: The following steps result in

so we see that

3. Adjoint method

A-1 =

(adjoint of A) or A-1 =

(cofactor matrix of A)T

Example: The following steps result in A-1 for

The cofactor matrix for A is

, so the adjoint

is

. Since det A = 22, we get

Rank

Matrix is an array of numbers arranged in rows and columns of order m x n (m rows and n columns). Every single number present in the matrix is called as the element or the entry. Below is the example of the matrix of order 3x3:
[1 2 3] [4 5 6]

[7 8 9]

Rank of Matrix: The matrix rank is determined by the number of independent rows or columns present in it. A row or a column is considered independent, if it satisfies the below conditions. 1. A row/column should have atleast one non-zero element for it to be ranked. 2. A row/column should not be identical to another row/column. 3. A row/column should not be proportional (multiples) of another row/column. 4. A row/column should not be should not be a linear combination of another row/column. A row or a column is ranked only if it meets the above conditions. For example, the rank of the below matrix would be 1 as the second row is proportional to the first and the third row does not have a non-zero element.
[1 2 3] [2 4 6] [0 0 0]

How to calculate the rank of a matrix: In this tutorial, let us find how to calculate the rank of the matrix. It can be calculated using various methods. We will calculate the rank based on Gaussian elimination method. Gaussian elimination method is used to calculate the matrix rank by converting it into the reduced row echelon form. It can be called as reduced row echelon form, if it satisfies the following conditions. 1. The first element in the first row should be the leading element i.e. 1. 2. The leading element in the columns should be to the right of the previous row's leading element. 3. If there are any rows with all zero elements, it should be below the non-zero element rows. 4. The leading element should be the only non-zero element in every column. If we follow the above steps, then the matrix would become a triangular one, i.e. the elements below or above the main diagonal would become zero. Main diagonal, of a square matrix, is a diagonal which runs from top left corner and to the bottom right corner. However, in this session, we will not consider the last (fourth) point as it would not affect the rank of a matrix. A matrix can be converted to reduced row echelon form by using elementary operations. In this tutorial, there are three basic elementary operations explained.

1.Interchanging two rows (or columns). 2.Multiplying a row (or a column) with a non-zero number. 3.Multiplying a row (or a column) with a non-zero number and adding the result to another row (or a column). Now, for example let us calculate the matrix rank.
[1 2 3] [4 5 6] [7 8 9]

a)Since the first element of the first row is the leading element, we have satisfied the first condition. If the first element is not 1, then we need to convert the element to 1 by using elementary operations. b)Now, let us make the first element of the second row zero (to form the triangular matrix). Multiply the first row with -4 and add that to the second row. The result is given below.
[1 2 3] [0 -3 -6] [7 8 9]

c)Similarly let us follow the same step for the third row for finding the rank of a matrix. Multiply the first row with -7 and add that to the third row. Below is the result.
[1 2 3] [0 -3 -6] [0 -6 -12]

d)Now, let us multiply the second row with -2 and add the values to the third row to make the second element of the third row zero. The resulting matrix would look like below.
[1 2 3] [0 -3 -6] [0 0 0]

Now, since it has been converted to row echelon form, we can find the rank of matrix. The matrix rank is 2 as the third row has zero for all the elements. As we saw in this tutorial, the rank can be found in simple steps using Gaussian Elimination method.