/sci/ - Science & Math

>>9401046
>>9401079
Determinants pop-up all over the place in projective geometry. From obvious stuff like coplanarity conditions, which are expressed as the vanishing of some (k+1) by (k+1) determinant, where k is the dimension of the projective space (just think about [math] \mathbb{P}^2 [/math]), to less trivial things like projective invariants, which are expressed as rational functions of determinants.
Come to think of it determinants are one of the most important tools to come out of linear algebra, period.