Message-ID: <B8933A84-D203-4949-8919-03AF6EBF5845@comcast.net>
Date: 2009-03-20T14:04:53Z
From: David Winsemius
Subject: Finding determinants of x-loaded matrix?
In-Reply-To: <49C3959E.4050000@ncssm.edu>
On Mar 20, 2009, at 9:09 AM, Bob Gotwals wrote:
>
> I need to find the determinant of this matrix
>
> x 1 0 0
> 1 x 1 0
> 0 1 x 1
> 0 0 1 x
>
> det yields x^4-3x^2+1
>
> I can then use polyroot to find the roots of the coefficients.
>
> The question is about the use of "x", which is what I'm solving for.
If you are asking how to use R for symbolic algebra, then the answer
might be investigate package Ryacas.
>
David Winsemius, MD
Heritage Laboratories
West Hartford, CT