Skip to main content
Math

Matrix Determinant Calculator (2×2 and 3×3)

The determinant of a square matrix is a single scalar that tells you whether the matrix is invertible (and therefore whether a linear system has a unique solution), and equals the signed area / volume of the parallelogram / parallelepiped spanned by its column vectors. This tool covers the two most-taught cases — 2×2 and 3×3 — using ad − bc and cofactor expansion along the first row, with every intermediate minor shown so you can check homework or hand-worked answers.

Matrix size

Matrix A

Determinant det(A)

−2

Invertible (det ≠ 0)

Working

det = a·d − b·c

If det(A) ≠ 0 the matrix is invertible and the linear system A·x = b has a unique solution; det(A) = 0 means the rows/columns are linearly dependent.

Formula

2×2: det = a·d − b·c 3×3 (cofactor expansion along row 1): det = a₁₁·M₁₁ − a₁₂·M₁₂ + a₁₃·M₁₃, where Mᵢⱼ is the determinant of the 2×2 minor obtained by deleting row i and column j.

Frequently asked

What is the determinant actually used for?

Three common uses: (1) invertibility — det(A) ≠ 0 means A is invertible and A·x = b has a unique solution; otherwise the system has no solution or infinitely many. (2) Cramer's rule — solve small linear systems by determinant ratios, xᵢ = det(Aᵢ) / det(A). (3) Geometry — |det(A)| equals the area of the parallelogram (2×2) or volume of the parallelepiped (3×3) spanned by the column vectors, and the same idea drives the Jacobian in multivariable calculus. For matrices larger than 3×3 the determinant is usually computed via LU decomposition rather than expansion by minors.

Why do the three terms in a 3×3 expansion have signs +, −, +?

The cofactor sign is (−1)^(i+j) with i, j starting from 1. Expanding along the first row fixes i = 1, so the signs follow (−1)^(1+1), (−1)^(1+2), (−1)^(1+3) — i.e. +, −, +. If you expand along the second row instead, the signs are −, +, − (and the determinant value is identical — the answer does not depend on which row or column you pick). This tool always expands along the first row, matching most textbooks.

If the determinant is 0, is the matrix useless?

No. det = 0 means the matrix is singular (non-invertible) — its column (or row) vectors are linearly dependent, so A·x = b cannot be solved by multiplying by A⁻¹. But singular matrices are everywhere useful: projection matrices that map 3-D onto 2-D always have det = 0; the graph Laplacian in graph theory always has det = 0; low-rank approximations in machine learning intentionally produce singular matrices. A zero determinant just says "not invertible," not "not meaningful."

Why does the tool stop at 3×3?

2×2 and 3×3 are by far the most common sizes asked in coursework and the easiest to compute by hand — making them the most useful sizes to double-check with a calculator. Cofactor expansion grows factorially (a 4×4 has 24 terms, a 5×5 has 120), so production code uses LU decomposition or Gaussian elimination in O(n³) time instead. For larger matrices reach for NumPy's np.linalg.det(), MATLAB's det(), or Excel's MDETERM function.

Related tools

Percentage Calculator

Percent of, percent change, and percent add/subtract in one.

GCD & LCM Calculator

Enter 2–6 positive integers to get the greatest common divisor (HCF / GCD) and least common multiple (LCM), with the Euclidean step chain shown.

Average Calculator (Mean / Median / Mode)

Enter a list of numbers to get the mean, median, mode, range plus standard deviation, variance and total.

Quadratic Equation Solver

Enter the coefficients of ax² + bx + c = 0 to find the real or complex roots, discriminant and vertex.

Password Strength (Entropy) Calculator

Estimate a password's bit entropy, brute-force time and strength tier. All computation happens in your browser.

Scientific Notation Converter

Convert between standard decimal numbers and scientific notation, with significant figures and order of magnitude.

Permutations & Combinations (nPr / nCr) Calculator

Compute permutations P(n,r), combinations C(n,r) and factorial n! — useful for probability problems, lottery odds and combinatorics homework.

Standard Deviation Calculator

Paste a list of numbers to compute mean, median, sample and population variance and standard deviation — with the working shown.

Triangle Calculator (SSS / SAS / ASA)

Solve a triangle from 3 sides, 2 sides + 1 angle, or 2 angles + 1 side — area, perimeter and remaining parts via the law of sines / cosines.

Pythagorean Theorem Calculator

Given any two sides of a right triangle (two legs, or one leg plus the hypotenuse), instantly find the third side, area, perimeter and the two non-right angles.

Circle Calculator (radius / diameter / circumference / area)

Enter any one of radius, diameter, circumference or area to get the other three — useful for design, engineering and DIY.

Roman Numeral Converter

Two-way conversion between Arabic numbers (1–3999) and Roman numerals (I, V, X, L, C, D, M) — handy for typesetting, chapter titles and homework.

Slope & Line Equation Calculator (y = mx + b from Two Points)

Enter two points (x₁, y₁) and (x₂, y₂) to instantly get the slope, y-intercept, line equation y = mx + b, distance, and midpoint — a classroom staple for algebra and coordinate geometry.

Birthday Paradox Calculator

Enter group size n to see the probability that at least two people share a birthday — the classic birthday problem.

Logarithm Calculator (log / ln / log₂ / any base)

Compute logₐ(x) for any base — natural log (ln), common log (log₁₀), binary log (log₂) and a custom base, with the change-of-base steps shown.

Z-Score (Standard Score) Calculator

Enter a value, the mean and the standard deviation to compute the z-score and the corresponding normal-distribution percentile and probabilities.

Screen Pixel Density (PPI) Calculator

Enter the screen resolution and diagonal size to get pixel density (PPI), real width/height, dot pitch and total pixel count.

Hong Kong Mark Six Odds Calculator

Enter the number of tickets / selections and see the actual probability of hitting first, second … prizes in a Mark Six (6-of-49) draw.

Decimal to Fraction Converter

Convert any decimal (including repeating decimals) to a simplified fraction and a mixed number.

Sphere Volume & Surface Area Calculator

Give a sphere any one of radius, diameter, surface area or volume and instantly get the other three — plus the great-circle circumference and area.

Cylinder Volume & Surface Area Calculator

Enter the radius and height of a cylinder to get volume (π r²h), lateral surface, base area and total surface area.

Permutations (nPr) Calculator

Compute nPr — the number of ordered arrangements of r items chosen from n — alongside n!, r! and the related combination nCr.

Prime Factorization Calculator

Factor any integer from 2 up to 10¹² into primes, see the canonical exponent form, count and list all divisors.

Geometric Mean Calculator

Compute the n-th root of the product of n positive numbers — the right average for growth rates, returns and ratios — alongside the arithmetic mean for comparison.

Fibonacci Sequence Calculator

Enter any integer n from 0 to 1500 to instantly compute F(n) and F(n−1) with BigInt precision, the consecutive-term ratio (converging to the golden ratio φ) and the first 30 terms of the sequence.

Dice Roll Probability Calculator

Pick the number of dice, sides (d4 / d6 / d8 / d10 / d12 / d20) and a target sum to compute the probability of rolling exactly that total, at least, or at most.

Arithmetic Series Calculator

Enter first term a, common difference d and number of terms n to compute the nth term aₙ and the partial sum Sₙ = n/2·(2a + (n − 1)d).

Survey Sample Size Calculator

Enter confidence level, margin of error, expected proportion (and optional population size) to compute the survey sample size you need.

Geometric Series Sum Calculator

Enter the first term a, common ratio r and number of terms n to find the sum of the first n terms of a geometric series — plus the infinite-series sum when |r| < 1.

Cone Volume & Surface Area Calculator

Enter base radius and height to get the cone volume, slant height, lateral, base and total surface area.

Music Note Frequency Calculator

Pick a note (C, C♯, D, …), octave and tuning reference A4 (440 Hz by default) and the tool returns the frequency in Hz, the wavelength in air and the MIDI note number via f = A4 × 2^((n − 69)/12).

Linear Interpolation Calculator (Lerp)

Enter two known points (x₁, y₁) and (x₂, y₂) and a target x to instantly read off y via y = y₁ + (x − x₁)(y₂ − y₁)/(x₂ − x₁) — the tool flags whether your x sits inside the two points (interpolation) or outside (extrapolation).

Trapezoid Area Calculator

Enter the two parallel sides and height of a trapezoid to get its area, midsegment length and perimeter when the legs are known.

Binomial Probability Calculator

Enter the number of trials n, the per-trial success probability p and a target number of successes k to get P(X = k), P(X ≤ k), P(X ≥ k) along with the distribution mean and standard deviation.

Pearson Correlation Coefficient Calculator

Paste two parallel data series (X and Y) and get the Pearson correlation coefficient r, r², the best-fit line slope and intercept, and the sample means and standard deviations.

Confidence Interval for the Mean Calculator

Enter the sample mean, sample standard deviation, sample size and confidence level to compute a confidence interval for the population mean using the t (or z) distribution, with margin of error and standard error.

Cohen's d Effect Size Calculator

Enter the means, standard deviations and sample sizes of two groups to compute Cohen's d and Hedges' g effect sizes, classified per Cohen 1988 as trivial / small / medium / large.

Modulo (Remainder) Calculator

Enter dividend a and divisor n to compute the quotient and remainder a mod n. The truncated (C / JavaScript %), floored (Python / mathematical) and Euclidean conventions are shown side by side so the negative-input differences are obvious.

chmod Permission Converter (Octal ↔ rwx)

Toggle read/write/execute for user, group and other to instantly get both octal (e.g. 755) and symbolic (e.g. rwxr-xr-x) notations.

Vector Magnitude & Direction Calculator (2D / 3D)

Enter 2D or 3D vector components (x, y, z) to compute the magnitude, unit vector and direction angles.

Percent Error Calculator (Percent Error & Percent Difference)

Enter experimental and theoretical (accepted) values to get absolute percent error, signed relative error, and absolute error. Switch to percent-difference mode to compare two measurements where neither is the accepted value.

Poisson Distribution Probability Calculator

Enter the mean event rate λ and an event count k to get P(X = k), P(X ≤ k), P(X ≥ k), the mean, variance and standard deviation — useful for queueing, call-centre staffing and rare-event modelling.

Bayes’ Theorem Probability Calculator

Enter the prior P(A), the sensitivity P(B|A) and the false-positive rate P(B|¬A); the tool applies Bayes’ theorem to give the posterior P(A|B) — handy for medical tests, spam filters and any classification decision.

Arc Length & Sector Area Calculator

Enter a circle’s radius and central angle (degrees or radians) to compute the arc length s = r·θ, sector area A = ½·r²·θ and chord length — useful for geometry, machining and architectural layout.

Vector Dot Product Calculator (2D / 3D)

Enter two 2D or 3D vectors and instantly compute the dot product, included angle, scalar projection and vector projection — with hints for orthogonal, parallel and anti-parallel cases.

Percent Difference Calculator (Symmetric)

Enter two values and compute the symmetric percent difference |a − b| / ((|a| + |b|) / 2) alongside the directional percent change (b − a)/a — a common source of confusion in lab reports and news headlines.

Vector Cross Product Calculator (3D)

Enter two 3D vectors a and b, compute the cross product a × b together with its magnitude (the area of the parallelogram they span) and sin θ — the workhorse of physics torque, computational geometry and 3D graphics.

Distance Between Two Points Calculator (2D / 3D)

Enter two points in the plane or in 3D space and the tool returns the straight-line Euclidean distance √Σ(Δᵢ)², each axis delta and the midpoint — handy for geometry homework, CAD measurements and planar GIS work.

Coefficient of Variation Calculator (CV)

Enter a dataset and the tool returns the coefficient of variation CV = σ / μ × 100% (standard deviation divided by mean) — the standard yardstick for comparing dispersion across datasets with different units or magnitudes (lab repeatability, portfolio risk).

Median, Quartiles & IQR Calculator

Enter a dataset and the tool sorts it and returns the median, first and third quartiles, the inter-quartile range (IQR) and Tukey 1.5×IQR outlier fences — the five-number summary behind every box plot.

Harmonic Mean Calculator

Enter a set of positive numbers and compute the harmonic mean HM = n / Σ(1/xᵢ) alongside the arithmetic and geometric means — the right average when the data behaves like rates or denominators (speeds, P/E ratios, flow rates).

Regular Polygon Calculator (Area, Angles, Radii)

Enter the side count n and side length s of a regular polygon and the tool returns the interior and exterior angles, the apothem and circumradius, the area and the perimeter in one shot — works for triangles, squares, pentagons, hexagons and beyond.

Catalan Number Calculator (Cₙ)

Enter n and the tool returns the n-th Catalan number Cₙ = (2n)! / ((n+1)! · n!) — the textbook count for balanced parentheses, binary tree shapes, Dyck paths and many other combinatorics problems.