NCL Home > Documentation > Functions > General applied math

determinant

Calculate the determinant of a small square real matrix using a partial-pivoting Gaussian elimination scheme.

Available in version 6.3.0 and later.

Prototype

	function determinant (
		x [*][*] : numeric   
	)

	return_val [1] :  float or double

Arguments

x

A two-dimensional variable of numeric type. The dimension sizes must be the same (i.e. [N][N]). N should be 'small' (say, .le. 7).

Return value

A scalar of type double if x is type double; otherwise the returned value will be type float.

Description

Normally, NCL would use an LAPACK code to compute a mathematical quantity such as the determinant. However, LAPACK contains no such subroutine due to issues with accuracy and stability: 

   http://www.netlib.org/lapack/faq.html#_are_there_routines_in_lapack_to_compute_determinants
Basically, numerical analysts do not want people calculating the determinant. :-(

NCL's

See Also

solve_linsys.shtml">determinant uses a fortran subroutine from: 


    An Introduction to  Computational Physics  
    Tao Pang 
    Cambridge University Press, 1997
Specifically, the determinant of the square (NxN) matrix is calculated using the partial-pivoting Gaussian elimination scheme. A more robust approach would be to use (say) QR decomposition.

WARNING: User Beware: This subroutine has been tested using small array sizes only. See examples. solve_linsys, inverse_matrix

Examples

The following use integer argument for convenience. All values sent to the determinant function are promoted to double prior to the computation. The computations are done in double precision.

Example 1: 

   a  = (/ (/ 1, 0, 2, -1/) \   ; N=4
         , (/ 3, 0, 0,  5/) \
         , (/ 2, 1, 4, -3/) \
         , (/ 1, 0, 5,  0/) /)
   d4 = determinant(a)          ; d4=30.0
Example 3: The following matches the result from the online determinant calculator. 

   b = (/ (/ 1,1,0,0,0,0 /) \                      ; N=6
        , (/ 2,2,2,0,0,0 /) \
        , (/ 0,3,3,3,0,0 /) \
        , (/ 0,0,4,4,4,0 /) \
        , (/ 0,0,0,5,5,5 /) \
        , (/ 0,0,0,0,6,6 /) /)

   d6 = determinant(b)          ; d6=724.0

Example 4: The following matches the result from the online determinant calculator. 

  c = (/ (/ 1,1,0,0,0,0,0, /) \                    ; N=7
       , (/ 2,2,2,0,0,0,0, /) \
       , (/ 0,3,3,3,0,0,0, /) \
       , (/ 0,0,4,4,4,0,0, /) \
       , (/ 0,0,0,5,5,5,0, /) \
       , (/ 0,0,0,0,6,6,6, /) \
       , (/ 0,0,0,0,0,7,7, /) /)

   d7 = determinant(c)         ; d7=5040

Example 5: The following matches the result from the online determinant calculator. 

  e = (/ (/ 1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0, /) \                 ; N=8
       , (/ 2,2,2,0,0,0,0,0, /) \
       , (/ 0,3,3,3,0,0,0,0, /) \
       , (/ 0,0,4,4,4,0,0,0, /) \
       , (/ 0,0,0,5,5,5,0,0, /) \
       , (/ 0,0,0,0,6,6,6,0, /) \
       , (/ 0,0,0,0,0,7,7,7, /) \
       , (/ 0,0,0,0,0,0,8,8, /) /)

   d8 = determinant(e)         ; d8=0

Example 6: 


   f = (/ (/ 1, 0.5, 0, 0,   0, 0,   0, 0,   0 /) \   ; N=9
        , (/-1, 0.5, 1, 0,   0, 0,   0, 0,   0 /) \
        , (/ 0,-1,   0, 2.5, 0, 0,   0, 0,   0 /) \
        , (/ 0, 0,  -1,-1.5, 4, 0,   0, 0,   0 /) \
        , (/ 0, 0,   0,-1,  -3, 5.5, 0, 0,   0 /) \
        , (/ 0, 0,   0, 0,  -1,-4.5, 7, 0,   0 /) \
        , (/ 0, 0,   0, 0,   0,-1,  -6, 8.5, 0 /) \
        , (/ 0, 0,   0, 0,   0, 0,  -1,-7.5,10 /) \
        , (/ 0, 0,   0, 0,   0, 0,   0,-1,  -9 /) /)
   d9 = determinant(f)                            ; d9=1.0  This is correct.

Example 7: The following matches the result from the online determinant calculator. 

  e = (/ (/ 1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 /) \              ; N=10
       , (/ 2,2,2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 /) \
       , (/ 0,3,3,3,0,0,0,0,0,0 /) \
       , (/ 0,0,4,4,4,0,0,0,0,0 /) \
       , (/ 0,0,0,5,5,5,0,0,0,0 /) \
       , (/ 0,0,0,0,6,6,6,0,0,0 /) \
       , (/ 0,0,0,0,0,7,7,7,0,0 /) \
       , (/ 0,0,0,0,0,0,8,8,8,0 /) \
       , (/ 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,9,9,9 /) \
       , (/ 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,10,10 /) /)

   d10 = determinant(e)         ; d10=-3628800.0    ????????