Abstract. A simple formula for the adjugate of a block triangle offers an alternative route to the determinant theory for Banach algebras.Suppose A is a complex linear algebra, with identity 1 and invertible group A −1 . The radical of A,coincides with the intersection of the maximal left ideals, and also of the maximal right ideals. Whenthe algebra A is described as semisimple. The spectrum of an element a ∈ A is given bywe shall also writefor the nonzero spectrum. The nonzero spectrum offers a definition of "rank": we set ( Thus, if rank(a) ≤ 1, then there is a bounded linear functional τ a ∈ A * for whichIt is clear that if a = 0, then τ a is uniquely determined; obviously we take τ 0 = 0. Certainly if (0.7) holds, thenWhen A is semisimple there are three equivalent definitions of the socle: the sum of the minimal left ideals, the sum of the minimal right ideals, and the linear subspace generated by the "rank one" elements. These in turn essentially reduce