Prove that $\det(I + vv^T) = 1 + ||v||^2$

determinantlinear algebra

How to prove that $\det(I+ vv^T) = 1 + ||v||^2$?

Here $v$ is vector-column, $||v||^2 = v_1^2 + \dots + v_n^2$, $I$ is the identity matrix.

This determinant arises when computing a surface integral with the parametrization $\phi(x) = (x, f(x))$ (A surface defined as a graph of a real-valued function $f$).

$\det (D \phi)^T D \phi = \det(I + (\nabla f)^T \nabla f)$

Best Answer

Note that the eigenvalues of $I + vv^T$ are all ones except for one of them which is $1 + v^T v = 1 + \Vert v \Vert^2$. Combine this with the definition of determinant being the product of all eigenvalues.

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