Let X be a smooth hypersurface in projective space. We discuss in this paper when X can be defined by an equation det M = 0 (resp. pf M = 0), where M is a matrix (resp. a skew-symmetric matrix) with homogeneous entries. Standard homological algebra methods show that this is equivalent to produce a line bundle (resp. a rank 2 vector bundle) E of a certain type on X . We discuss a number of applications for hypersurfaces of small dimension. An Appendix by F.-O. Schreyer proves (using Macaulay 2) that a general form of degree d in P^3 (resp. P^4) can be written as the pfaffian of a skew-symmetric (2d)x(2d) matrix with linear entries in the expected range, that is d < 16 (resp. d < 6).

29 pages, Plain TeX, with a new Appendix by F.-O. Schreyer