II.—On some Transformations connecting General Determinants with Continuants

Extract

§1. It is well known that by a simple transformation of a determinant we may cause a zero to take the place of any one of the elements. The theorems of Hermite and Horner, for example, for depressing the order of a determinant may each of them be viewed as the result of repeated transformations of this kind, the operation being continued until all the elements of a row or column except one are replaced by zeros.