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The Rule of Sarrus - Determinants PDF

The Rule of Sarrus provides a geometric method for calculating the determinant of a 3x3 matrix. It involves assigning the entries of the matrix to points on lines in a projective plane. The determinant is then equal to the product of the values of the points where the three lines through each vertex meet at the opposite vertex. Sarrus invented the Sarrus linkage mechanical device and taught at the University of Strasbourg for 30 years.

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307 views1 page

The Rule of Sarrus - Determinants PDF

The Rule of Sarrus provides a geometric method for calculating the determinant of a 3x3 matrix. It involves assigning the entries of the matrix to points on lines in a projective plane. The determinant is then equal to the product of the values of the points where the three lines through each vertex meet at the opposite vertex. Sarrus invented the Sarrus linkage mechanical device and taught at the University of Strasbourg for 30 years.

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THEOREM OF THE DAY

The Rule of Sarrus In the projective plane of order 3 let the line at infinity consist of points R, C, P
and M, assigned the values 0, 0, +1 and −1, respectively. Suppose that the other nine points are assigned
the entries of a 3 × 3 matrix A in such a way that the rows of the matrix are assigned to the three
parallel lines meeting at R, the columns to the parallel lines meeting atXC, andYthe main diagonal to a line
through P. Then the determinant of A may be evaluated as: det A = (value of point x).
lines L x on L

There are many alternative ways to define the determinant of a matrix A. Staying within the realm of geometry, we may say that it is the factor
(up to sign, ±) by which the volume of a polyhedron is scaled when it is stretched and rotated by A, viewed as a ‘linear transformation’. Above
left, a small (purple) tetrahedron of volume 1/6 has its points (0, 0, 0), (1, 0, 0), (0, 1, 0) and (0, 0, 1) multiplied by a 3 × 3 matrix, resulting in the
large (red) tetrahedron: (0, 0, 0), (1, 2, 4), (2, 1, 0), (3, −1, 2). Its volume is 26 × 1/6, the matrix in question, above right, having determinant −26,
as illustrated by the diagonal multiplications of its elements. (This calculation, in which the first two columns of the matrix are repeated, is the
usual way that the Rule of Sarrus is presented; the appeal to projective geometry is gratuitous.)
Pierre Frédéric Sarrus (1798–1861) taught for thirty years at the University of Strasbourg. In 1853 he invented the Sarrus
linkage, a mechanism for converting rotational motion to linear motion. Eleven years later, a French army officer, Charles-
Nicolas Peaucellier, independently solved this problem in mechanics and seems, rather unfairly, to have got all the glory.
Web link: www.uea.ac.uk/jtm/contents.htm, Unit 7.2. See www.theoremoftheday.org/GeometryAndTrigonometry/Sarrus/Sarrus4x4.pdf
for a 4 × 4 version of the rule, an issue given interesting coverage at regularize.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/sarrus-rules-for-4-x-4/.
Further reading: An Elementary Treatise on the Theory of Determinants by Charles, L. Dodgson, 1867, reprinted Rough House Print-
ing, 2007. Created by Robin Whitty for www.theoremoftheday.org

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