> The usual manual algorithm is something like "go along the top row, and for each value multiply it by the determinant of the minor created by removing that ro

> The usual manual algorithm is something like "go along the top row, and for each value multiply it by the determinant of the minor created by removing that row and column, times an alternating sign". Cofactor expansion, aka Laplace expansion. ("Cofactor" is probably a better name, since everything else is also named after Laplace, or Gauss, or Euler.) > It's also, as far as I can tell, a lot less work than the Dodgson method. That's the interesting thing. It isn't! The article discusses the asymptotics at the end.