This is the formula for the determinant of a $4\times4$ matrix.
.
0,0 | 1,0 | 2,0 | 3,0
0,1 | 1,1 | 2,1 | 3,1
0,2 | 1,2 | 2,2 | 3,2
0,3 | 1,3 | 2,3 | 3,3
.
m[0,3] * m[1,2] * m[2,1] * m[3,0] - m[0,2] * m[1,3] * m[2,1] * m[3,0] -
m[0,3] * m[1,1] * m[2,2] * m[3,0] + m[0,1] * m[1,3] * m[2,2] * m[3,0] +
m[0,2] * m[1,1] * m[2,3] * m[3,0] - m[0,1] * m[1,2] * m[2,3] * m[3,0] -
m[0,3] * m[1,2] * m[2,0] * m[3,1] + m[0,2] * m[1,3] * m[2,0] * m[3,1] +
m[0,3] * m[1,0] * m[2,2] * m[3,1] - m[0,0] * m[1,3] * m[2,2] * m[3,1] -
m[0,2] * m[1,0] * m[2,3] * m[3,1] + m[0,0] * m[1,2] * m[2,3] * m[3,1] +
m[0,3] * m[1,1] * m[2,0] * m[3,2] - m[0,1] * m[1,3] * m[2,0] * m[3,2] -
m[0,3] * m[1,0] * m[2,1] * m[3,2] + m[0,0] * m[1,3] * m[2,1] * m[3,2] +
m[0,1] * m[1,0] * m[2,3] * m[3,2] - m[0,0] * m[1,1] * m[2,3] * m[3,2] -
m[0,2] * m[1,1] * m[2,0] * m[3,3] + m[0,1] * m[1,2] * m[2,0] * m[3,3] +
m[0,2] * m[1,0] * m[2,1] * m[3,3] - m[0,0] * m[1,2] * m[2,1] * m[3,3] -
m[0,1] * m[1,0] * m[2,2] * m[3,3] + m[0,0] * m[1,1] * m[2,2] * m[3,3]
.
0, 1, 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, 7,
8, 9, 10, 11,
12, 13, 14, 15
.
m[12] * m[9] * m[6] * m[3] - m[8] * m[13] * m[6] * m[3] -
m[12] * m[5] * m[10] * m[3] + m[4] * m[13] * m[10] * m[3] +
m[8] * m[5] * m[14] * m[3] - m[4] * m[9] * m[14] * m[3] -
m[12] * m[9] * m[2] * m[7] + m[8] * m[13] * m[2] * m[7] +
m[12] * m[1] * m[10] * m[7] - m[0] * m[13] * m[10] * m[7] -
m[8] * m[1] * m[14] * m[7] + m[0] * m[9] * m[14] * m[7] +
m[12] * m[5] * m[2] * m[11] - m[4] * m[13] * m[2] * m[11] -
m[12] * m[1] * m[6] * m[11] + m[0] * m[13] * m[6] * m[11] +
m[4] * m[1] * m[14] * m[11] - m[0] * m[5] * m[14] * m[11] -
m[8] * m[5] * m[2] * m[15] + m[4] * m[9] * m[2] * m[15] +
m[8] * m[1] * m[6] * m[15] - m[0] * m[9] * m[6] * m[15] -
m[4] * m[1] * m[10] * m[15] + m[0] * m[5] * m[10] * m[15]
.
There seems to be some symmetrical patterns in the formula, but most numbers seem to be too much random and aleatory, so memorizing the 96 numbers would seem to be pretty hard...
Is there any mnemotechnical way of making this easier to memorize?
Note: I know there are other ways to calculate the determinant of a $4\times4$ matrix, but this question is only about the brute force approach which consists in memorizing the entire formula.