A simple Derivative of a determinant with respect to a matrix My question is pretty simple. I wish to solve:
$\frac{d\ln |\mathbf\Sigma^{-1}+\mathbf{B}|}{d \mathbf\Sigma}$. Here  $\mathbf{B}$ is a diagonal matrix and also irrelevant to matrix $\mathbf{\Sigma}$. Can anybody help? Thanks!
 A: In order to solve the question, we should use the following properties
$$\frac{{\partial {{\bf{A}}^{ - 1}}}}{{\partial x}} =  - {{\bf{A}}^{ - 1}}\frac{{\partial {\bf{A}}}}{{\partial x}}{{\bf{A}}^{ - 1}}$$
$$ \frac{{\partial {\bf{AB}}}}{{\partial x}} = \frac{{\partial {\bf{A}}}}{{\partial x}}{\bf{B}} + {\bf{A}}\frac{{\partial {\bf{B}}}}{{\partial x}}$$
$$ \frac{{\partial \ln \left| {\bf{A}} \right|}}{{\partial x}} = {\rm{Tr}}\left( {{{\bf{A}}^{ - 1}}\frac{{\partial {\bf{A}}}}{{\partial x}}} \right)$$
as well as the matrix inversion equation
$${({\bf{A}} + {\bf{B}}{{\bf{D}}^{ - 1}}{\bf{C}})^{ - 1}} = {{\bf{{ A}}}^{ - 1}} - {{\bf{{ A}}}^{ - 1}}{\bf{B}}{({\bf{D}} + {\bf{C}}{{\bf{{ A}}}^{ - 1}}{\bf{B}})^{ - 1}}{\bf{C}}{{\bf{{ A}}}^{ - 1}}$$
We can derive step by step as follows:
\begin{array}{l}\begin{aligned}
\frac{{{\rm{d}}\ln \left| {{{\bf \Sigma} ^{ - 1}} + {\bf B}} \right|}}{{{\rm{d}}{{\bf \Sigma} _{ij}}}} &= - \frac{{{\rm{d}}\ln \left| {{{({{\bf \Sigma} ^{ - 1}} + {\bf B})}^{ - 1}}} \right|}}{{{\rm{d}}{{\bf \Sigma} _{ij}}}}\\
 &=  - {\rm{Tr}}\left( {({{\bf \Sigma} ^{ - 1}} + {\bf B})\frac{\partial }{{\partial {{\bf \Sigma} _{ij}}}}{{({{\bf \Sigma} ^{ - 1}} + {\bf B})}^{ - 1}}} \right)\\
 &=  - {\rm{Tr}}\left( {({{\bf \Sigma} ^{ - 1}} + {\bf B})\frac{\partial }{{\partial {{\bf \Sigma} _{ij}}}}\left( {{\bf \Sigma}  - {\bf \Sigma} {{({{\bf B}^{ - 1}} + {\bf \Sigma} )}^{ - 1}}{\bf \Sigma} } \right)} \right)\\
 &=  - {\rm{Tr}}\left( {({{\bf \Sigma} ^{ - 1}} + {\bf B})\left( {{{\bf I}_{ij}} - {{\bf I}_{ij}}{{({{\bf B}^{ - 1}} + {\bf \Sigma} )}^{ - 1}}{\bf \Sigma}  -   {\bf \Sigma} {{({{\bf B}^{ - 1}} + {\bf \Sigma} )}^{ - 1}}{{\bf I}_{ij}} + {\bf \Sigma} {{({{\bf B}^{ - 1}} + {\bf \Sigma} )}^{ - 1}}{{\bf I}_{ij}}{{({{\bf B}^{ - 1}} + {\bf \Sigma} )}^{ - 1}}{\bf \Sigma} } \right)} \right)\\
 &=  - {\left\{ {{{\bf \Sigma} ^{ - 1}} + {\bf B} - 2{{({{\bf B}^{ - 1}} + {\bf \Sigma} )}^{ - 1}}{\bf \Sigma} ({{\bf \Sigma} ^{ - 1}} + {\bf B}) + {{({{\bf B}^{ - 1}} + {\bf \Sigma} )}^{ - 1}}{\bf \Sigma} ({{\bf \Sigma} ^{ - 1}} + {\bf B}){\bf \Sigma} {{({{\bf B}^{ - 1}} + {\bf \Sigma} )}^{ - 1}}} \right\}_{ji}}\\
 &=  - {\left\{ {\left( {{\bf I} - {{({{\bf B}^{ - 1}} + {\bf \Sigma} )}^{ - 1}}{\bf \Sigma} } \right)({{\bf \Sigma} ^{ - 1}} + {\bf B})\left( {{\bf I} - {{({{\bf B}^{ - 1}} + {\bf \Sigma} )}^{ - 1}}{\bf \Sigma} } \right)} \right\}_{ji}}\\
 &=  - {\left\{ {{{\bf \Sigma} ^{ - 1}}{{({{\bf \Sigma} ^{ - 1}} + {\bf B})}^{ - 1}}({{\bf \Sigma} ^{ - 1}} + {\bf B}){{({{\bf \Sigma} ^{ - 1}} + {\bf B})}^{ - 1}}{{\bf \Sigma} ^{ - 1}}} \right\}_{ji}}\\
 &=  - {\left\{ {{{({\bf \Sigma}  + {\bf \Sigma} {\bf B}{\bf \Sigma} )}^{ - 1}}} \right\}_{ji}}
\end{aligned}\end{array}
Note that ${\bf \Sigma}$ and ${\bf B}$ are all symmetric matrices so the multiplication between them satisfy the commutative law. Finally we can draw the following conclusion:
$$\frac{{{\rm{d}}\ln \left| {{{\bf \Sigma} ^{ - 1}} + {\bf B}} \right|}}{{{\rm{d}}{{\bf \Sigma} }}} = -{({\bf \Sigma}  + {\bf \Sigma} {\bf B}{\bf \Sigma} )^{ - 1}}$$
A: Let me use $M$ instead of $\Sigma;\,$ it's easier to type.
First, define a new matrix variable
$$\eqalign{
 A &= M^{-1}+B \cr
dA &= dM^{-1} = -M^{-1}\,dM\,M^{-1} \cr
}$$
Write the function in terms of this new variable, then find its differential and gradient 
$$\eqalign{
\phi &= \log\det A \cr
d\phi &= d\log\det A \cr
  &= A^{-T}:dA \cr
  &= -A^{-T}:M^{-1}\,dM\,M^{-1} \cr
  &= -M^{-T}A^{-T}M^{-T}:dM \cr
  &= -(MAM)^{-T}:dM \cr
  &= -(M + MBM)^{-T}:dM \cr
\frac{\partial\phi}{\partial M} &= -(M + MBM)^{-T} \cr\cr
}$$
Some of the steps above use a colon to denote the trace/Frobenius product, i.e. $$A:BC={\rm tr}(A^TBC)$$
The properties of the trace give rise to lots of ways to rearrange the terms in the product. For example, all of the following are equivalent
$$\eqalign{
A:BC
 &= BC:A \cr
 &= A^T:(BC)^T \cr
 &= AC^T:B \cr
 &= B^TA:C \cr
}$$
