diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index b3b11a1b..74046bda 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ documented here.
 
 This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 
+## [0.12.0] - WIP
+
+### Added
+ * `.trace()` that computes the trace of a matrix (i.e., the sum of its
+   diagonal elements.)
+
 ## [0.11.0]
 The [website](http://nalgebra.org) has been fully rewritten and gives a good
 overview of all the added/modified features.
diff --git a/src/core/matrix.rs b/src/core/matrix.rs
index 004888e8..d87ddb3f 100644
--- a/src/core/matrix.rs
+++ b/src/core/matrix.rs
@@ -403,7 +403,7 @@ impl<N, D: Dim, S> SquareMatrix<N, D, S>
     /// Creates a square matrix with its diagonal set to `diag` and all other entries set to 0.
     #[inline]
     pub fn diagonal(&self) -> OwnedColumnVector<N, D, S::Alloc> {
-        assert!(self.is_square(), "Unable to transpose a non-square matrix in-place.");
+        assert!(self.is_square(), "Unable to get the diagonal of a non-square.");
 
         let dim = self.data.shape().0;
         let mut res = unsafe { OwnedColumnVector::<N, D, S::Alloc>::new_uninitialized_generic(dim, U1) };
@@ -414,6 +414,23 @@ impl<N, D: Dim, S> SquareMatrix<N, D, S>
 
         res
     }
+
+    /// Computes a trace of a square matrix, i.e., the sum of its diagonal elements.
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn trace(&self) -> N
+        where N: Ring {
+        assert!(self.is_square(), "Cannot compute the trace of non-square matrix.");
+
+        let dim = self.data.shape().0;
+        let mut res = N::zero();
+
+        for i in 0 .. dim.value() {
+            res += unsafe { *self.get_unchecked(i, i) };
+        }
+
+        res
+
+    }
 }
 
 impl<N, D, S> ColumnVector<N, D, S>
diff --git a/tests/matrix.rs b/tests/matrix.rs
index 21e8c262..dcef35d7 100644
--- a/tests/matrix.rs
+++ b/tests/matrix.rs
@@ -308,6 +308,20 @@ fn simple_scalar_conversion() {
     assert_eq!(expected, a_u32);
 }
 
+#[test]
+#[should_panic]
+fn trace_panic() {
+    let m = DMatrix::<f32>::new_random(2, 3);
+    let _ = m.trace();
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn trace() {
+    let m = Matrix2::new(1.0,  20.0,
+                         30.0, 4.0);
+    assert_eq!(m.trace(), 5.0);
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn simple_transpose() {
     let a = Matrix2x3::new(1.0, 2.0, 3.0,