Let $ A$ be an $ n \times n$ matrix whose elements are non-negative real numbers. Assume that $ A$ is a non-singular matrix and all elements of $ A^{\minus{}1}$ are non-negative real numbers. Prove that every row and every column of $ A$ has exactly one non-zero element.

Suppose that the automorphism group of the finite undirected graph $ X\equal{}(P, E)$ is isomorphic to the quaternion group (of order $ 8$). Prove that the adjacency matrix of $ X$ has an eigenvalue of multiplicity at least $ 4$. ($ P\equal{} \{ 1,2,\ldots, n \}$ is the set of vertices of the graph $ X$. The set of edges $ E$ is a subset of the set of all unordered pairs of elements of $ P$. The group of automorphisms of $ X$ consists of those permutations of $ P$ that map edges to edges. The adjacency matrix $ M\equal{}[m_{ij}]$ is the $ n \times n$ matrix defined by $ m_{ij}\equal{}1$ if $ \{ i,j \} \in E$ and $ m_{i,j}\equal{}0$ otherwise.) [i]L. Babai[/i]

If $ n$ is a real number, then the simultaneous system $ nx \plus{} y \equal{} 1$ $ ny \plus{} z \equal{} 1$ $ x \plus{} nz \equal{} 1$ has no solution if and only if $ n$ is equal to $ \textbf{(A)}\ \minus{}1 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 0 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 1 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 0 \text{ or } 1 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ \frac12$

2500 chess kings have to be placed on a $100 \times 100$ chessboard so that [b](i)[/b] no king can capture any other one (i.e. no two kings are placed in two squares sharing a common vertex); [b](ii)[/b] each row and each column contains exactly 25 kings. Find the number of such arrangements. (Two arrangements differing by rotation or symmetry are supposed to be different.) [i]Proposed by Sergei Berlov, Russia[/i]

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 $ABCD$ be a convex quadrilateral such that \[\begin{array}{rl} E,F \in [AB],& AE = EF = FB \\ G,H \in [BC],& BG = GH = HC \\ K,L \in [CD],& CK = KL = LD \\ M,N \in [DA],& DM = MN = NA \end{array}\] Let \[[NG] \cap [LE] = \{P\}, [NG]\cap [KF] = \{Q\},\] \[{[}MH] \cap [KF] = \{R\}, [MH]\cap [LE]=\{S\}\] Prove that [list=a][*]$Area(ABCD) = 9 \cdot Area(PQRS)$ [*] $NP=PQ=QG$ [/list]

Calculate $ \begin{pmatrix}1&0&0& \ldots &0\\\binom{1}{0} &\binom{1}{1} &0& \ldots & 0 \\ \ldots & \ldots & \ldots & \ldots & \ldots \\ \binom{n}{0} &\binom{n}{1} & \binom{n}{2} & \ldots & \binom{n}{n}\end{pmatrix}^{-1} . $

There are $4$ distinct codes used in an intelligence station, one of them applied in each week. No two codes used in two adjacent weeks are the same code. Knowing that code $A$ is used in the first week, find the probability that code $A$ is used in the seventh week.

For a real coefficient cubic polynomial $f(x)=ax^3+bx^2+cx+d$, denote three roots of the equation $f(x)=0$ by $\alpha,\beta,\gamma$. Prove that the three roots $\alpha,\beta,\gamma$ are distinct real numbers iff the real symmetric matrix $$\begin{pmatrix} 3 & p_1 & p_2 \\ p_1 & p_2 & p_3 \\ p_2 & p_3 & p_4 \end{pmatrix},\quad p_i = \alpha^i + \beta^i + \gamma^i$$ is positive definite.

Justify your answer whether $A=\left( \begin{array}{ccc} -4 & -1& -1 \\ 1 & -2& 1 \\ 0 & 0& -3 \end{array} \right)$ is similar to $B=\left( \begin{array}{ccc} -2 & 1& 0 \\ -1 & -4& 1 \\ 0 & 0& -3 \end{array} \right),\ A,\ B\in{M(\mathbb{C})}$ or not.

A cake has the form of an $ n$ x $ n$ square composed of $ n^{2}$ unit squares. Strawberries lie on some of the unit squares so that each row or column contains exactly one strawberry; call this arrangement $\mathcal{A}$. Let $\mathcal{B}$ be another such arrangement. Suppose that every grid rectangle with one vertex at the top left corner of the cake contains no fewer strawberries of arrangement $\mathcal{B}$ than of arrangement $\mathcal{A}$. Prove that arrangement $\mathcal{B}$ can be obtained from $ \mathcal{A}$ by performing a number of switches, defined as follows: A switch consists in selecting a grid rectangle with only two strawberries, situated at its top right corner and bottom left corner, and moving these two strawberries to the other two corners of that rectangle.

We call an $n\times n$ matrix [i]well groomed[/i] if it only contains elements $0$ and $1$, and it does not contain the submatrix $\begin{pmatrix} 1& 0\\ 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix}.$ Show that there exists a constant $c>0$ such that every well groomed, $n\times n$ matrix contains a submatrix of size at least $cn\times cn$ such that all of the elements of the submatrix are equal. (A well groomed matrix may contain the submatrix $\begin{pmatrix} 0& 1\\ 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix}.$ )

For any square matrix $\mathcal{A}$ we define $\sin {\mathcal{A}}$ by the usual power series. \[ \sin {\mathcal{A}}=\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}\frac{(-1)^n}{(2n+1)!}\mathcal{A}^{2n+1} \] Prove or disprove : $\exists 2\times 2$ matrix $A\in \mathcal{M}_2(\mathbb{R})$ such that \[ \sin{A}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1 & 1996 \\0 & 1 \end{array}\right) \]

Let be the sequence of sets $ \left(\left\{ A\in\mathcal{M}_2\left(\mathbb{R} \right) | A^{n+1} =2003^nA\right\}\right)_{n\ge 1} . $ [b]a)[/b] Prove that each term of the above sequence hasn't a finite cardinal. [b]b)[/b] Determine the intersection of the third element of the above sequence with the $ 2003\text{rd} $ element. [i]Gheorghe Iurea[/i] [hide=Note]Similar with [url]https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c7h1943241p13387495[/url].[/hide]

Let $n\geq 2$ a fixed integer. We shall call a $n\times n$ matrix $A$ with rational elements a [i]radical[/i] matrix if there exist an infinity of positive integers $k$, such that the equation $X^k=A$ has solutions in the set of $n\times n$ matrices with rational elements. a) Prove that if $A$ is a radical matrix then $\det A \in \{-1,0,1\}$ and there exists an infinity of radical matrices with determinant 1; b) Prove that there exist an infinity of matrices that are not radical and have determinant 0, and also an infinity of matrices that are not radical and have determinant 1. [i]After an idea of Harazi[/i]

Compute the determinant of the $n\times n$ matrix $A=(a_{ij})_{ij}$, $$a_{ij}=\begin{cases} (-1)^{|i-j|} & \text{if}\, i\ne j,\\ 2 & \text{if}\, i= j. \end{cases}$$

Let $A$ be a $5\times10$ matrix with real entries, and let $A^{\text T}$ denote its transpose. Suppose every $5\times1$ matrix with real entries can be written in the form $A\mathbf u$ where $\mathbf u$ is a $10\times1$ matrix with real entries. Prove that every $5\times1$ matrix with real entries can be written in the form $AA^{\text T}\mathbf v$ where $\mathbf v$ is a $5\times1$ matrix with real entries.

Suppose a $3\times 3$ matrix $A$ satisfies $\mathbf{v}^t A \mathbf{v} > 0$ for any vector $\mathbf{v} \in\mathbb{R}^3 -\{0\}$. (Note that $A$ may not be a symmetric matrix.) (1) Prove that $\det(A)>0$. (2) Consider diagonal matrix $D=\text{diag}(-1,1,1)$. Prove that there's exactly one negative real among eigenvalues of $AD$.

Let $ n\ge 2$ be an integer. What is the minimal and maximal possible rank of an $ n\times n$ matrix whose $ n^{2}$ entries are precisely the numbers $ 1, 2, \ldots, n^{2}$?

Solve in $(\mathbb{R}_{+}^{*})^{4}$ the following system : $\left\{\begin{matrix} x+y+z+t=4\\ \frac{1}{x}+\frac{1}{y}+\frac{1}{z}+\frac{1}{t}=5-\frac{1}{xyzt} \end{matrix}\right.$

$n\geq 2$ is a given integer. For two permuations $(\alpha_1,\cdots,\alpha_n)$ and $(\beta_1,\cdots,\beta_n)$ of $1,\cdots,n$, consider $n\times n$ matrix $A= \left(a_{ij} \right)_{1\leq i,j\leq n}$ defined by $a_{ij} = (1+\alpha_i \beta_j )^{n-1}$. Find every possible value of $\det(A)$.

[list=a] [*]Let $A$ be a matrix from $\mathcal{M}_{2}(\mathbb{C})$, $A\neq aI_{2}$, for any $a\in\mathbb{C}$. Prove that the matrix $X$ from $\mathcal{M} _{2}(\mathbb{C})$ commutes with $A$, that is, $AX=XA$, if and only if there exist two complex numbers $\alpha$ and $\alpha^{\prime}$, such that $X=\alpha A+\alpha^{\prime}I_{2}$. [*]Let $A$, $B$ and $C$ be matrices from $\mathcal{M}_{2}(\mathbb{C})$, such that $AB\neq BA$, $AC=CA$ and $BC=CB$. Prove that $C$ commutes with all matrices from $\mathcal{M}_{2}(\mathbb{C})$.[/list]

Let $\mathcal{M}$ be the set of $5\times 5$ real matrices of rank $3$. Given a matrix in $\mathcal{M}$, the set of columns of $A$ has $2^5-1=31$ nonempty subsets. Let $k_A$ be the number of these subsets that are linearly independent. Determine the maximum and minimum values of $k_A$, as $A$ varies over $\mathcal{M}$. [i]The rank of a matrix is the dimension of the span of its columns.[/i]

Let $A$ be a $3\times 3$ real matrix such that the vectors $Au$ and $u$ are orthogonal for every column vector $u\in \mathbb{R}^{3}$. Prove that: a) $A^{T}=-A$. b) there exists a vector $v \in \mathbb{R}^{3}$ such that $Au=v\times u$ for every $u\in \mathbb{R}^{3}$, where $v \times u$ denotes the vector product in $\mathbb{R}^{3}$.

Let $A\in\mathcal{M}_n(\mathbb{C})$ be an antisymmetric matrix, i.e. $A=-A^t.$[list=a] [*]Prove that if $A\in\mathcal{M}_n(\mathbb{R})$ and $A^2=O_n$ then $A=O_n.$ [*]Assume that $n{}$ is odd. Prove that if $A{}$ is the adjoint of another matrix $B\in\mathcal{M}_n(\mathbb{C})$ then $A^2=O_n.$ [/list]