Hello Assia,

When computed for a correlation matrix, the determinant may range from 0 (no independent variation) to 1 (no relationship among the variables at all). Lower values generally would suggest the data set _does_ share common variance, and therefore may be amenable to factoring.

A variable set with a determinant of exactly zero would indicate that all variables were isomorphic and interchangeable (one gives exactly the same information as any other). While you could contrive such a data set (for example, asking adults their age four times in a row, and treating the responses as separate variables), it should be apparent that scores on the variables should correlate perfectly (hence, a zero determinant for the matrix).

Good luck with your work.

It was helpful..

Thank you

Professor Morse, do you have some reference you can share regarding your previous answer? Thank you very much, Sofia Pereira