title: Alternative ways to calculate the determinant of a matrix in R
body: <p>So it is a mathematical fact that if the determinant of a matrix is equal to zero, then the matrix must be singular (not invertible).  Now, the problem I am running into is that when I calculate the determinant of my matrix it is equal to zero, however, when I calculate the inverse it exist.  I think it has to do with the way R calculates determinants that the two are not agreeing.  Here is the code that I am trying (I wont print the results of solve because the matrix is 100 x 100).</p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt; Rinv = solve(R)
  &gt; 
  &gt; det(R)
  [1] 0
  &gt; 
  &gt; #Using a Cholesky Factorization
  &gt; L = chol(R)
  &gt; Q = t(L)
  &gt; 
  &gt; det(L)*det(Q)
  [1] 0
  </code></pre>