determinant

  1. Noun.  A determining factor; an element that determines the nature of something.
  2. Noun.  (linear algebra) The unique scalar function over square matrices which is distributive over matrix multiplication, multilinear in the rows and columns, and takes the value of 1 for the unit matrix. Abbreviation: det.
  3. Noun.  (biology) A substance that causes a cell to adopt a particular fate.

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This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.