Q: why determinant is volume of parallelepiped in any dimensions?
A: http://math.stackexchange.com/a/547522/227287
Suppose v1,v2,...vn are linear independent.
In 2d,
The signed area (2-volume) of (v1,v2) is vol(v1,v2).
v1=(x,0) v2'=(0,y)
v2' = v2 - C*v1.
vol(v1,v2) = vol(v1,v2') = x*y = det(v1,v2')= det(v1,v2 - C*v1)= det(v1,v2)
In 3d,
The signed volume (3-volume) of (v1,v2,v3) is vol(v1,v2,v3).
v1=(x,0,0) v2'=(0,y,0) v3'=(0,0,z)
v2' = v2 - C21*v1.
v3' = v3 - C31*v1 - C32*v2.
vol(v1,v2,v3) = vol(v1,v2',v3') = x*y*z = det(v1,v2',v3')
= det(v1, v2-C21*v1, v3-C31*v1-C32*v2)= det(v1, v2, v3-C31*v1-C32*v2)<