Determinant of Large Matrix

James Stroud jstroud at mbi.ucla.edu
Wed Jun 6 07:10:43 EDT 2007


Hello All,

I'm using numpy to calculate determinants of matrices that look like 
this (13x13):

[[ 0.  1.  1.  1.  1.  1.  1.  1.  1.  1.  1.  1.  1.  1.]
  [ 1.  0.  1.  4.  1.  9.  4.  4.  1.  1.  4.  9.  4.  9.]
  [ 1.  1.  0.  1.  4.  4.  9.  9.  4.  4.  1.  4.  1.  4.]
  [ 1.  4.  1.  0.  9.  1.  4.  4.  9.  1.  4.  1.  4.  1.]
  [ 1.  1.  4.  9.  0.  4.  4.  4.  1.  4.  1.  9.  4.  9.]
  [ 1.  9.  4.  1.  4.  0.  4.  4.  9.  4.  1.  1.  4.  1.]
  [ 1.  4.  9.  4.  4.  4.  0.  1.  1.  1.  9.  1.  9.  4.]
  [ 1.  4.  9.  4.  4.  4.  1.  0.  4.  1.  9.  4.  4.  1.]
  [ 1.  1.  4.  9.  1.  9.  1.  4.  0.  4.  4.  4.  4.  9.]
  [ 1.  1.  4.  1.  4.  4.  1.  1.  4.  0.  9.  4.  9.  4.]
  [ 1.  4.  1.  4.  1.  1.  9.  9.  4.  9.  0.  4.  1.  4.]
  [ 1.  9.  4.  1.  9.  1.  1.  4.  4.  4.  4.  0.  4.  1.]
  [ 1.  4.  1.  4.  4.  4.  9.  4.  4.  9.  1.  4.  0.  1.]
  [ 1.  9.  4.  1.  9.  1.  4.  1.  9.  4.  4.  1.  1.  0.]]

For this matrix, I'm getting this with numpy:

  2774532095.9999971

But I have a feeling I'm exceeding the capacity of floats here. Does 
anyone have an idea for how to treat this? Is it absurd to think I could 
get a determinant of this matrix? Is there a python package that could 
help me?

Many thanks for any answers.

James



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