In this paper we propose several strategies for the exact computation of the
determinant of a rational matrix. First, we use the Chinese Remaindering
Theorem and the rational reconstruction to recover the rational determinant
from its modular images. Then we show a preconditioning for the determinant
which allows us to skip the rational reconstruction process and reconstruct an
integer result. We compare those approaches with matrix preconditioning which
allow us to treat integer instead of rational matrices. This allows us to
introduce integer determinant algorithms to the rational determinant problem.
In particular, we discuss the applicability of the adaptive determinant
algorithm of [9] and compare it with the integer Chinese Remaindering scheme.
We present an analysis of the complexity of the strategies and evaluate their
experimental performance on numerous examples. This experience allows us to
develop an adaptive strategy which would choose the best solution at the run
time, depending on matrix properties. All strategies have been implemented in
LinBox linear algebra library