[Math] How to prove that if $A$ is a singular square matrix, then $\det A = 0$ without using Binet’s Theorem

determinantlinear algebramatrices

Well, I need to prove that if $A$ is a $n \times n$ matrix and it is singular, then $\det A = 0$, in order to show Binet's Theorem $\det(AB) = \det(A)\cdot\det(B)$ in the case when both $A$ and $B$ are singular square matrices.

I'll thank any help with this issue!

Best Answer

By definition, $\det$ is an alternating multilinear form in the matrix columns. By assumption, there exists non-zero $v$ with $Av=0$, i.e., the column vectors are linearly dependent. Use this and alternating multilinearity to show that $\det A$ equals $\det B$ for a matrix $B$ with one column equal to $0$, and there we see from linearity in that column that $\det B=0$.

Related Question