How can you tell if a matrix is invertible?

Answer 1

An easy exclusion criterion is a matrix that is not nxn. Only a square matrices are invertible (have an inverse). For the matrix to be invertible, the vectors (as columns) must be linearly independent. In other words, you have to check that for an nxn matrix given by {v1 v2 v3 ••• vn} with n vectors with n components, there are not constants (a, b, c, etc) not all zero such that av1 + bv2 + cv3 + ••• + kvn = 0 (meaning only the trivial solution of a=b=c=k=0 works).

So all you're doing is making sure that the vectors of your matrix are linearly independent. The matrix is invertible if and only if the vectors are linearly independent. Making sure the only solution is the trivial case can be quite involved, and you don't want to do this for large matrices. Therefore, an alternative method is to just make sure the determinant is not 0. Remember that the vectors of a matrix "A" are linearly independent if and only if detA�0, and by the same token, a matrix "A" is invertible if and only if detA�0.