9-5 Higher Order Determinants Cramer’s Rule and 3 by 3’s
How to Evaluate a 3 by 3 Determinant ceg afh bdi aei bfg cdh + + – – –
Example 1. Evaluate
Cramer’s Rule It will look scary at first, but it is the SAME EXACT CONCEPT as a 2 by 2 situation. That is, the denominator of each solution is the determinant of the coefficients. The numerator is the coefficient determinant with the appropriate column replaced by the solutions. That is, the x column replaced when solving for x, the y column when solving for y and the z column when solving for z.
Hint: if you can find x and y, just sub in to find z
Examples 2. 3. Uhoh…what happens when the denominator equals zero?