> So which position am I taking when I teach students how to compute the determinant of a matrix? That how to compute the determinant of a matrix is not only w

> So which position am I taking when I teach students how to compute the determinant of a matrix? That how to compute the determinant of a matrix is not only worth knowing, but worth prioritising over other things. It's an eminently reasonable position, but there's an opportunity cost to learning about determinants.