Question

Difficulty: EasyMatrices and Determinants

Given the 2×22 \times 2 matrix M=(7243)M = \begin{pmatrix} 7 & -2 \\ 4 & 3 \end{pmatrix}, what is the value of det(M)\det(M)?

Answer: 29

Answer

The determinant of matrix MM is 29.
The determinant of a 2×22 \times 2 matrix (abcd)\begin{pmatrix} a & b \\ c & d \end{pmatrix} is calculated as adbcad - bc. For the matrix M=(7243)M = \begin{pmatrix} 7 & -2 \\ 4 & 3 \end{pmatrix}, we compute (7)(3)(2)(4)=21(8)=29(7)(3) - (-2)(4) = 21 - (-8) = 29.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the entries a,b,c,da, b, c, d from the matrix M=(7243)M = \begin{pmatrix} 7 & -2 \\ 4 & 3 \end{pmatrix}.
a=7a = 7, b=2b = -2, c=4c = 4, and d=3d = 3.
These entries correspond to the standard 2×22 \times 2 matrix representation (abcd)\begin{pmatrix} a & b \\ c & d \end{pmatrix}.
2
Compute the determinant using the formula det(M)=adbc\det(M) = ad - bc.
det(M)=(7)(3)(2)(4)=21+8=29\det(M) = (7)(3) - (-2)(4) = 21 + 8 = 29.
Multiplying the main diagonal entries and subtracting the product of the off-diagonal entries yields the determinant.

Key Concept

Determinant of a 2x2 Matrix
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