determinant

A determining factor; an element that determines the nature of something.

(linear algebra) A scalar that encodes certain characteristics of a given transformation matrix; the unique scalar function over square matrices which is distributive over matrix multiplication, multilinear in the rows and columns, and takes the value 1 for the unit matrix; abbreviated as: det.

(biology) A substance that causes a cell to adopt a particular fate.

(genetics) Something that causes a nuclease to cut at a specified point