In what case does the system of equations $\begin{matrix} x + y + mz = a \\ x + my + z = b \\ mx + y + z = c \end{matrix}$ have a solution? Find conditions under which the unique solution of the above system is an arithmetic progression.

Let $n\geq 2$ and $A,B\in\mathcal{M}_n(\mathbb{C})$ such that $$\{\text{rank}(A^k)\mid k\geq 1\}=\{\text{rank}(B^k)\mid k\geq 1\}.$$ Prove that $\text{rank}(A^k)=\text{rank}(B^k)$ for all $k\geq 1$. [i]Cristi Săvescu[/i]

Let $$A=\left( \begin{array}{cc} 4 & -\sqrt{5} \\ 2\sqrt{5} & -3 \end{array} \right) $$ Find all pairs of integers \(m,n\) with \(n \geq 1\) and \(|m| \leq n\) such as all entries of \(A^n-(m+n^2)A\) are integer.

A $m\times n$ matrix $(a_{ij})$ of real numbers satisfies $|a_{ij}| <1$ and $\sum_{i=1}^m a_{ij}= 0$ for all$ j$. Show that one can permute the entries in each column in such a way that the obtained matrix $(b_{ij})$ satisfies $\sum_{j=1}^n b_{ij} < 2$ for all $i$.

Let the matrices of order 2 with the real elements $A$ and $B$ so that $AB={{A}^{2}}{{B}^{2}}-{{\left( AB \right)}^{2}}$ and $\det \left( B \right)=2$. a) Prove that the matrix $A$ is not invertible. b) Calculate $\det \left( A+2B \right)-\det \left( B+2A \right)$.

In each field of a table there is a real number. We call such $n \times n$ table [i]silly[/i] if each entry equals the product of all the numbers in the neighbouring fields. a) Find all $2 \times 2$ silly tables. b) Find all $3 \times 3$ silly tables.

For an ${n\times n}$ matrix $A$, let $X_{i}$ be the set of entries in row $i$, and $Y_{j}$ the set of entries in column $j$, ${1\leq i,j\leq n}$. We say that $A$ is [i]golden[/i] if ${X_{1},\dots ,X_{n},Y_{1},\dots ,Y_{n}}$ are distinct sets. Find the least integer $n$ such that there exists a ${2004\times 2004}$ golden matrix with entries in the set ${\{1,2,\dots ,n\}}$.

Consider a matrix of size $n\times n$ whose entries are real numbers of absolute value not exceeding $1$. The sum of all entries of the matrix is $0$. Let $n$ be an even positive integer. Determine the least number $C$ such that every such matrix necessarily has a row or a column with the sum of its entries not exceeding $C$ in absolute value. [i]Proposed by Marcin Kuczma, Poland[/i]

Let $\mathcal{M}$ be the set of all $2021 \times 2021$ matrices with at most two entries in each row equal to $1$ and all other entries equal to $0$. Determine the size of the set $\{ \det A : A \in M \}$. [i]Here $\det A$ denotes the determinant of the matrix $A$.[/i]

In Determinant Tic-Tac-Toe, Player $1$ enters a $1$ in an empty $3 \times 3$ matrix. Player $0$ counters with a $0$ in a vacant position and play continues in turn intil the $ 3 \times 3 $ matrix is completed with five $1$’s and four $0$’s. Player $0$ wins if the determinant is $0$ and player $1$ wins otherwise. Assuming both players pursue optimal strategies, who will win and how?

Let $a, b, c, d$ be integers. Show that the product \[(a-b)(a-c)(a-d)(b-c)(b-d)(c-d)\] is divisible by $12$.

[b]Problem 1.[/b]Find all $ (x,y)$ such that: \[ \{\begin{matrix} \displaystyle\dfrac {1}{\sqrt {1 + 2x^2}} + \dfrac {1}{\sqrt {1 + 2y^2}} & = & \displaystyle\dfrac {2}{\sqrt {1 + 2xy}} \\ \sqrt {x(1 - 2x)} + \sqrt {y(1 - 2y)} & = & \displaystyle\dfrac {2}{9} \end{matrix}\; \]

Let $M$ be a matrix with $r$ rows and $c$ columns. Each entry of $M$ is a nonnegative integer. Let $a$ be the average of all $rc$ entries of $M$. If $r > {(10 a + 10)}^c$, prove that $M$ has two identical rows.

Given the following matrix $$\begin{pmatrix} 11& 17 & 25& 19& 16\\ 24 &10 &13 & 15&3\\ 12 &5 &14& 2&18\\ 23 &4 &1 &8 &22 \\ 6&20&7 &21&9 \end{pmatrix},$$ choose five of these elements, no two from the same row or column, in such a way that the minimum of these elements is as large as possible.

a) Show that $\forall n \in \mathbb{N}_0, \exists A \in \mathbb{R}^{n\times n}: A^3=A+I$. b) Show that $\det(A)>0, \forall A$ fulfilling the above condition.

Given a square matrix $M$ of order $n$ over the field of numbers real, find, as a function of $M$, two matrices, one symmetric and one antisymmetric, such that their sum is precisely $ M$.

Suppose that $\displaystyle{{v_1},{v_2},...,{v_d}}$ are unit vectors in $\displaystyle{{{\Bbb R}^d}}$. Prove that there exists a unitary vector $\displaystyle{u}$ such that $\displaystyle{\left| {u \cdot {v_i}} \right| \leq \frac{1}{{\sqrt d }}}$ for $\displaystyle{i = 1,2,...,d}$. [b]Note.[/b] Here $\displaystyle{ \cdot }$ denotes the usual scalar product on $\displaystyle{{{\Bbb R}^d}}$. [i]Proposed by Tomasz Tkocz, University of Warwick.[/i]

Alice and Bob play the following game: Initially, there is a $2016\times2016$ "empty" matrix. Taking turns, with Alice playing first, each player chooses a real number and fill it into an empty entry. If the determinant of the last matrix is non-zero, then Alice wins. Otherwise, Bob wins. Who has the winning strategy?

Consider the sytem of equations \[ a_{11}x_1+a_{12}x_2+a_{13}x_3 = 0 \]\[a_{21}x_1+a_{22}x_2+a_{23}x_3 =0\]\[a_{31}x_1+a_{32}x_2+a_{33}x_3 = 0 \] with unknowns $x_1, x_2, x_3$. The coefficients satisfy the conditions: a) $a_{11}, a_{22}, a_{33}$ are positive numbers; b) the remaining coefficients are negative numbers; c) in each equation, the sum ofthe coefficients is positive. Prove that the given system has only the solution $x_1=x_2=x_3=0$.

Given positive integers $m,n$ and a $m\times n$ matrix $A$ with real entries. (1) Show that matrices $X = I_m + AA^T$ and $Y = I_n + A^T A$ are invertible. ($I_l$ is the $l\times l$ unit matrix.) (2) Evaluate the value of $\text{tr}(X^{-1}) - \text{tr}(Y^{-1})$.

Let $p$ be a prime. We arrange the numbers in ${\{1,2,\ldots ,p^2} \}$ as a $p \times p$ matrix $A = ( a_{ij} )$. Next we can select any row or column and add $1$ to every number in it, or subtract $1$ from every number in it. We call the arrangement [i]good[/i] if we can change every number of the matrix to $0$ in a finite number of such moves. How many good arrangements are there?

Let $Q$ be an $n$-by-$n$ real orthogonal matrix, and let $u\in \mathbb{R}^n$ be a unit column vector (that is, $u^Tu=1$). Let $P=I-2uu^T$, where $I$ is the $n$-by-$n$ identity matrix. Show that if $1$ is not an eigenvalue of $Q$, then $1$ is an eigenvalue of $PQ$.

Let $I$ denote the $2\times2$ identity matrix $\begin{pmatrix}1&0\\0&1\end{pmatrix}$ and let $$M=\begin{pmatrix}I&A\\B&C\end{pmatrix},\enspace N=\begin{pmatrix}I&B\\A&C\end{pmatrix}$$where $A,B,C$ are arbitrary $2\times2$ matrices which entries in $\mathbb R$, the real numbers. Thus $M$ and $N$ are $4\times4$ matrices with entries in $\mathbb R$. Is it true that $M$ is invertible (i.e. there is a $4\times4$ matrix $X$ such that $MX=XM=I$) implies $N$ is invertible? Justify your answer.

Hey, This problem is from the VTRMC 2006. 3. Recall that the Fibonacci numbers $ F(n)$ are defined by $ F(0) \equal{} 0$, $ F(1) \equal{} 1$ and $ F(n) \equal{} F(n \minus{} 1) \plus{} F(n \minus{} 2)$ for $ n \geq 2$. Determine the last digit of $ F(2006)$ (e.g. the last digit of 2006 is 6). As, I and a friend were working on this we noticed an interesting relationship when writing the Fibonacci numbers in "mod" notation. Consider the following, 01 = 1 mod 10 01 = 1 mod 10 02 = 2 mod 10 03 = 3 mod 10 05 = 5 mod 10 08 = 6 mod 10 13 = 3 mod 10 21 = 1 mod 10 34 = 4 mod 10 55 = 5 mod 10 89 = 9 mod 10 Now, consider that between the first appearance and second apperance of $ 5 mod 10$, there is a difference of five terms. Following from this we see that the third appearance of $ 5 mod 10$ occurs at a difference 10 terms from the second appearance. Following this pattern we can create the following relationships. $ F(55) \equal{} F(05) \plus{} 5({2}^{2})$ This is pretty much as far as we got, any ideas?

Calculate the sum of matrix commutators $[A, [B, C]] + [B, [C, A]] + [C, [A, B]]$, where $[A, B] = AB-BA$