On Circuit Polynomials and Determinants of Matrices

E.J. Farrell1, J.C. Grell 1
1The Centre For Graph Polynomials Department of Mathematics and Computer Science The University of the West Indies St. Augustine, Trinidad

Abstract

It is shown that the determinant of the variable adjacency matrix, and hence the determinant of the adjacency matrix of a graph, are circuit polynomials. From this, it is deduced that determinants of symmetric matrices are indeed circuit polynomials of associated graphs.
The results are then extended to general matrices