We consider two cases: detA = 0 and detA 6= 0. First assume that detA = 0.
Then by a theorem in the text, A is not invertible. This implies that A
t
is not
invertible since we have seen that a matrix is invertible if and only if its transpose
is. Thus detA
t = 0 so in this case we have detA
t = detA.
Now assume that detA 6= 0. Then A is invertible and can therefore be written
as a product E1
··· Ek of elementary matrices. We claim that det E
t = det E for
any elementary matrix. This is because if E is of the second or third type of
elementary matrix then E = E
t
so that det E
t = det E. If E is of the first type
then so is E
t
. But from the text we know that det E = 1 for all elementary
matrices of the first type. This proves our claim. Using properties of the
transpose and the multiplicative property of the determinant we have
detA
t = det((E1
··· Ek
)
t
)
= det(E
t
k
··· E
t
1
)
= det(E
t
k
)···det(E
t
1
)
= det Ek
···det E1
= det E1
···det Ek
= det(E1
··· Ek
)
= detA.