Please provide a proof that the trace of the product of two matrices is independent of the order of the factors. i.e. TR(AB) = TR (BA) I am trying to prove that TR (AAtranspose) = TR (AtransposeA), (have the same non zero eigenvalues). Thanks Solution Let A=(a ij ) and B=(b ij ) with i>=1, j<= n. Moreover, let AB = (c ij ) and BA = (d ij ) Then, tr(AB) = sum(i=1 to n) c ii = sum(i=1 to n) sum(j=1 to n) a_ ij b_ ji = sum(j=1 to n) sum(i=1 to n) b ji a ij = sum(j=1 to n) d_ jj = tr(BA). .