silemus.

14Inverse of a 2×22\times 2 matrix

Let A=[4726]\displaystyle A = \begin{bmatrix}4 & 7\\2 & 6\end{bmatrix}. Find A−1\displaystyle A^{-1}; what is its entry in row 2, column 1?

For a 2×2 matrix, swap the diagonal entries, negate the off-diagonal ones, and divide by the determinant ad−bc = 24−14 = 10. That gives A⁻¹ = (1/10)[[6,−7],[−2,4]], so the entry in row 2, column 1 is −2/10 = −1/5.

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