Determinant of a Matrix --- Generic Function
DESCRIPTION:
Computes the determinant (or its logarithm) of a square matrix.

This function is generic (see Methods); method functions can be written to handle specific classes of data. Classes which already have methods for this function include: "lu.Hermitian", "lu.Matrix", "qr.Matrix", "schur.Matrix", "svd.Matrix", "LowerTriangular", "UpperTriangular", "UnitLowerTriangular", "UnitUpperTriangular".

USAGE: 
det(x, logarithm = T, ...)
REQUIRED ARGUMENTS:
x:
a square Matrix. No missing values or IEEE special values are allowed.
OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS:
logarithm:
logical value telling whether to compute the logarithm of the magnitude of the determinant, or the actual magnitude.
...:
additional parameters, for example tuning constants for underlying code.
VALUE:
Returns an object of class "det".
BACKGROUND:
If A is a square matrix, then det(A) is the product of the eigenvalues of A. It is not necessary to compute eigenvalues in order to compute a determinant, however.
REFERENCES:
Golub, G., and Van Loan, C. F. (1989). Matrix Computations, 2nd edition, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore.
SEE ALSO:
Matrix , det.Matrix , det.object .
EXAMPLES: 
library(Matrix)
x <- Matrix( rnorm(9), 3, 3)
det(x)