Formula of the determinant Given (finite dimensional?) vector spaces $V$ and $W$, we can define the transpose of a linear map $f:V \to W$ by the obvious map $W^* \to V^*$. Can we do a similar thing for the determinant? Can we define the determinant of an operator without making reference to a matrix, or bases? I feel we should be able to do this, given that the value of the determinant is independent of the basis chosen.
 A: The determinant of a linear map $f:V\to W$ between finite dimensional vector spaces over a field $K$ can only be defined if $V=W \; !$
And be very careful: we really have to require  that our vector spaces be  equal and not merely isomorphic.    
The intrinsic definition is then as follows :
If $V$ has dimension $n$ then  the top exterior power $\wedge^n V$ has dimension one so that the induced linear mapping $\wedge^n f:\wedge^n V\to \wedge^n V$ is necessarily a homothety $\omega\mapsto d \cdot\omega$ i.e. the multiplication by some scalar $d\in K$ in the base field.
And that scalar  is the required determinant: $\text {det} f\stackrel {\text {def}}{=}d$.    
This approch (pioneered by Bourbaki around 1950, I think) is undoubtedly very elegant, but it requires a knowledge of multilinear algebra not taught  in elementary undergraduate courses.
A: Elaborating on Sanchez's answer, it's useful to consider the action of a linear operator on objects created by wedge products--which represent oriented planes, volumes, and so on, just as a single vector represents an oriented line.
We generally define the action of linear operators across the wedge product as follows:
$$\underline T(a \wedge b) \equiv \underline T(a) \wedge \underline T(b)$$
The operator on a wedge product is the wedge product of the operator on the individual vectors.
Now, consider the highest-dimensional object that can be formed by wedges.  In an $N$-dimensional space, this is a wedge product of $N$ linearly independent vectors.  This object itself forms a 1d vector space---all objects of this kind are scalar multiples of each other.  For this reason, this object is often called the pseudoscalar.  We'll call it $i_N$.
Now, what is $\underline T(i_N)$?  First, linear operators that can be extended across wedges preserve the grade of their arguments--vectors go to vectors, planes to go planes, and the pseudoscalar can only go to (some multiple of) itself.
In other words,
$$\underline T(i_N) = \alpha i_N$$
We call the number $\alpha$ the determinant, and it describes how a unit volume in the space is dilated or shrunk by the linear operator.  There is no need to resort to a matrix representation to do this, nor must we choose a specific basis to know this is so.
