Cramer's rule
Regla de Cramer
- Date
- 1750 · confidence high
- Place
- Geneva, Switzerland
- Credited to
- Gabriel Cramer
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Cramer published in his 'Introduction à l'Analyse des lignes Courbes algébriques' an explicit formula for solving linear systems of equations using determinants. Colin Maclaurin had published special cases two years earlier and may have known the result as early as 1729.
Priority is disputed with Colin Maclaurin, who published special cases of the rule in 1748, two years before Cramer.
What it led to
- Central theoretical tool of linear algebra
- Study of the properties of linear systems via determinants
Built on
- Maclaurin's work with determinants (1748)