How many ordered pairs of positive integers $(x,y)$ are there such that $y^2-x^2=2y+7x+4$? $ \textbf{(A)}\ 3 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 2 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 1 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 0 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \text{Infinitely many} $

Let $k$ and $N$ be positive real numbers which satisfy $k\leq N$. For $1\leq i \leq k$, there are subsets $A_i$ of $\{1,2,3,\ldots,N\}$ that satisfy the following property. For arbitrary subset of $\{ i_1, i_2, \ldots , i_s \} \subset \{ 1, 2, 3, \ldots, k \} $, $A_{i_1} \triangle A_{i_2} \triangle ... \triangle A_{i_s}$ is not an empty set. Show that a subset $\{ j_1, j_2, .. ,j_t \} \subset \{ 1, 2, ... ,k \} $ exist that satisfies $n(A_{j_1} \triangle A_{j_2} \triangle \cdots \triangle A_{j_t}) \geq k$. ($A \triangle B=A \cup B-A \cap B$)

Consider a $m\times n$ rectangular board consisting of $mn$ unit squares. Two of its unit squares are called [i]adjacent[/i] if they have a common edge, and a [i]path[/i] is a sequence of unit squares in which any two consecutive squares are adjacent. Two parths are called [i]non-intersecting[/i] if they don't share any common squares. Each unit square of the rectangular board can be colored black or white. We speak of a [i]coloring[/i] of the board if all its $mn$ unit squares are colored. Let $N$ be the number of colorings of the board such that there exists at least one black path from the left edge of the board to its right edge. Let $M$ be the number of colorings of the board for which there exist at least two non-intersecting black paths from the left edge of the board to its right edge. Prove that $N^{2}\geq M\cdot 2^{mn}$.

What is the biggest shadow that a cube of side length $1$ can have, with the sun at its peak? Note: "The biggest shadow of a figure with the sun at its peak" is understood to be the biggest possible area of the orthogonal projection of the figure on a plane.

Which of the following are true? $\textbf{(A)}~\forall A\in M_n(\mathbb R),A^t=X^{-1}AX\text{ for some }X\in M_n(\mathbb R)$ $\textbf{(B)}~\forall A\in M_n(\mathbb R),I+AA^t\text{ is invertible}$ $\textbf{(C)}~\operatorname{tr}(AB)=\operatorname{tr}(BA),\forall A,B\in M_n(\mathbb R)\text{ but }\exists A,B,C\text{ such that }\operatorname{tr}(ABC)\ne\operatorname{tr}(BAC)$ $\textbf{(D)}~\text{None of the above}$

The point $ (\minus{}3, 2)$ is rotated $ 90^\circ$ clockwise around the origin to point $ B$. Point $ B$ is then reflected over the line $ y \equal{} x$ to point $ C$. What are the coordinates of $ C$? $ \textbf{(A)}\ ( \minus{} 3, \minus{} 2)\qquad \textbf{(B)}\ ( \minus{} 2, \minus{} 3)\qquad \textbf{(C)}\ (2, \minus{} 3)\qquad \textbf{(D)}\ (2,3)\qquad \textbf{(E)}\ (3,2)$

Let $M,N\in M_2(\mathbb C)$ be two nonzero matrices such that $$M^2=N^2=0_2\text{ and }MN+NM=I_2$$where $0_2$ is the $2\times2$ zero matrix and $I_2$ the $2\times2$ unit matrix. Prove that there is an invertible matrix $A\in M_2(\mathbb C)$ such that $$M=A\begin{pmatrix}0&1\\0&0\end{pmatrix}A^{-1}\text{ and }N=A\begin{pmatrix}0&0\\1&0\end{pmatrix}A^{-1}.$$

Let $n$ be a positive integer. An $n \times n$ matrix (a rectangular array of numbers with $n$ rows and $n$ columns) is said to be a platinum matrix if: [list=i] [*] the $n^2$ entries are integers from $1$ to $n$; [*] each row, each column, and the main diagonal (from the upper left corner to the lower right corner) contains each integer from $1$ to $n$ exactly once; and [*] there exists a collection of $n$ entries containing each of the numbers from $1$ to $n$, such that no two entries lie on the same row or column, and none of which lie on the main diagonal of the matrix. [/list] Determine all values of $n$ for which there exists an $n \times n$ platinum matrix.

Let be a $ 2\times 2 $ real matrix $ A $ that has the property that $ \left| A^d-I_2 \right| =\left| A^d+I_2 \right| , $ for all $ d\in\{ 2014,2016 \} . $ Prove that $ \left| A^n-I_2 \right| =\left| A^n+I_2 \right| , $ for any natural number $ n. $

Solve in the set of $ 2\times 2 $ integer matrices the equation $$ X^2-4\cdot X+4\cdot\left(\begin{matrix}1\quad 0\\0\quad 1\end{matrix}\right) =\left(\begin{matrix}7\quad 8\\12\quad 31\end{matrix}\right) . $$

Given $ a_0 \equal{} 1$, $ a_1 \equal{} 3$, and the general relation $ a_n^2 \minus{} a_{n \minus{} 1}a_{n \plus{} 1} \equal{} (\minus{}1)^n$ for $ n \ge 1$. Then $ a_3$ equals: $ \textbf{(A)}\ \frac{13}{27}\qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 33\qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 21\qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 10\qquad \textbf{(E)}\ \minus{}17$

Let $n\ge1$. Assume that $A$ is a real $n\times n$ matrix which satisfies the equality $$A^7+A^5+A^3+A-I=0.$$ Show that $\det(A)>0$.

Whether $m$ and $n$ natural numbers, $m,n\ge 2$. Consider matrices, ${{A}_{1}},{{A}_{2}},...,{{A}_{m}}\in {{M}_{n}}(R)$ not all nilpotent. Demonstrate that there is an integer number $k>0$ such that ${{A}^{k}}_{1}+{{A}^{k}}_{2}+.....+{{A}^{k}}_{m}\ne {{O}_{n}}$

Let $x_1,\ldots, x_n$ and $y_1,\ldots, y_n$ be real numbers. Let $A = (a_{ij})_{1\leq i,j\leq n}$ be the matrix with entries \[a_{ij} = \begin{cases}1,&\text{if }x_i + y_j\geq 0;\\0,&\text{if }x_i + y_j < 0.\end{cases}\] Suppose that $B$ is an $n\times n$ matrix with entries $0$, $1$ such that the sum of the elements in each row and each column of $B$ is equal to the corresponding sum for the matrix $A$. Prove that $A=B$.

There are two matrices $A$ and $B$ of size $m\times n$ each filled only by “0”s and “1”s. It is given that along any row or column its elements do not decrease (from left to right and from top to bottom).It is also given that the numbers of “1”s in both matrices are equal and for any $k = 1, . . .$ , $m$ the sum of the elements in the top $k$ rows of the matrix $A$ is no less than that of the matrix $B$. Prove for any $l = 1, . . . $, $n$ the sum of the elements in left $l$ columns of the matrix $A$ is no greater than that of the matrix $B$.

$M$ and $N$ are real unequal $n\times n$ matrices satisfying $M^3=N^3$ and $M^2N=N^2M$. Can we choose $M$ and $N$ so that $M^2+N^2$ is invertible?

Determine all pairs $(a, b)$ of real numbers for which there exists a unique symmetric $2\times 2$ matrix $M$ with real entries satisfying $\mathrm{trace}(M)=a$ and $\mathrm{det}(M)=b$. (Proposed by Stephan Wagner, Stellenbosch University)

Let $A, B \in M_6 (\mathbb{Z} )$ such that $A \equiv I \equiv B \text{ mod }3$ and $A^3 B^3 A^3 = B^3$. Prove that $A = I$. Here $M_6 (\mathbb{Z} )$ indicates the $6$ by $6$ matrices with integer entries, $I$ is the identity matrix, and $X \equiv Y \text{ mod }3$ means all entries of $X-Y$ are divisible by $3$.

Let $H$ denote the set of the matrices from $\mathcal{M}_n(\mathbb{N})$ and let $P$ the set of matrices from $H$ for which the sum of the entries from any row or any column is equal to $1$. a)If $A\in P$, prove that $\det A=\pm 1$. b)If $A_1,A_2,\ldots,A_p\in H$ and $A_1A_2\cdot \ldots\cdot A_p\in P$, prove that $A_1,A_2,\ldots,A_p\in P$.

Let $A$ be the $n\times n$ matrix whose entry in the $i$-th row and $j$-th column is \[\frac1{\min(i,j)}\] for $1\le i,j\le n.$ Compute $\det(A).$

For matrices $A=[a_{ij}]_{m \times m}$ and $B=[b_{ij}]_{m \times m}$ where $A,B \in \mathbb{Z} ^{m \times m}$ let $A \equiv B \pmod{n}$ only if $a_{ij} \equiv b_{ij} \pmod{n}$ for every $i,j \in \{ 1,2,...,m \}$, that's $A-B=nZ$ for some $Z \in \mathbb{Z}^{m \times m}$. (The symbol $A \in \mathbb{Z} ^{m \times m}$ means that every element in $A$ is an integer.) Prove that for $A \in \mathbb{Z} ^{m \times m}$ there is $B \in \mathbb{Z} ^{m \times m}$ , where $AB \equiv I \pmod{n }$ only if $(\det (A),n)=1$ and find the value of $B$ in the form of $A$ where $I$ represents the dimensional identity matrix $m \times m$. [i](PP-nine)[/i]

Let $M_n$ be the $n\times n$ matrix with entries as follows: for $1\leq i \leq n$, $m_{i,i}=10$; for $1\leq i \leq n-1, m_{i+1,i}=m_{i,i+1}=3$; all other entries in $M_n$ are zero. Let $D_n$ be the determinant of matrix $M_n$. Then $\displaystyle \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \dfrac{1}{8D_n+1}$ can be represented as $\frac{p}{q}$, where $p$ and $q$ are relatively prime positive integers. Find $p+q$. Note: The determinant of the $1\times 1$ matrix $[a]$ is $a$, and the determinant of the $2\times 2$ matrix $\left[ \begin{array}{cc} a & b \\ c & d \end{array} \right]=ad-bc$; for $n\geq 2$, the determinant of an $n\times n$ matrix with first row or first column $a_1\ a_2\ a_3 \dots\ a_n$ is equal to $a_1C_1 - a_2C_2 + a_3C_3 - \dots + (-1)^{n+1} a_nC_n$, where $C_i$ is the determinant of the $(n-1)\times (n-1)$ matrix found by eliminating the row and column containing $a_i$.

An $(n^2+n+1) \times (n^2+n+1)$ matrix of zeros and ones is given. If no four ones are vertices of a rectangle, prove that the number of ones does not exceed $(n + 1)(n^2 + n + 1).$

For a $ n\times n $ real matrix $ M, $ prove that [b]a)[/b] $ M=0 $ if $ \text{tr} \left(M^tM\right) =0. $ [b]b)[/b] $ ^tM=M $ if $M^tM=M^2. $ [b]c)[/b] $ ^tM=-M $ if $ M^tM=-M^2. $ [b]d)[/b] Give example of a $ 2\times 2 $ real matrix $ A $ satisfying the following: $ \text{(i)} ^tA\cdot A^2=A^3 $ and $ ^tA\neq A $ $ \text{(ii)} ^tA\cdot A^2=-A^3 $ and $ ^tA\neq -A $ [i]Vasile Pop[/i]

$ 15 $ minors of order $ 3 $ of a $ 4\times 4 $ real matrix whose determinant is a nonzero rational number, are rational. Prove that this matrix is rational.