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Algebra Difficulty 6.2 National olympiad Prove it Romania

Let AM2(R)A \in \mathcal{M}_2(\mathbb{R}) be a matrix satisfying the conditions:
det(A2014I2)=det(A2014+I2)anddet(A2016I2)=det(A2016+I2). \det (A^{2014} - I_2) = \det (A^{2014} + I_2) \quad \text{and} \quad \det (A^{2016} - I_2) = \det (A^{2016} + I_2).

Prove that det(AnI2)=det(An+I2)\det (A^n - I_2) = \det (A^n + I_2), for any positive integer nn.

Solution

If MM2(R)M \in \mathcal{M}_2(\mathbb{R}), we have
det(MxI2)=x2tr(M)x+det(M),xR.(1) \det (M - xI_2) = x^2 - \operatorname{tr}(M)x + \det(M), \quad \forall x \in \mathbb{R}. \quad (1)
Let AM2(R)A \in \mathcal{M}_2(\mathbb{R}) be a matrix satisfying the hypothesis. From (1) we obtain
tr(A2014)=tr(A2016)=0.(2) \operatorname{tr}(A^{2014}) = \operatorname{tr}(A^{2016}) = 0. \qquad (2)
Using the Cayley-Hamilton theorem, we obtain
A2tr(A)A+det(A)I2=O2.(3) A^2 - \operatorname{tr}(A)A + \det(A)I_2 = O_2. \tag{3}
We analyze several cases.

If tr(A)=0\operatorname{tr}(A) = 0, then (3) implies A2=det(A)I2A^2 = -\det(A)I_2, whence A2014=(det(A))1007I2A^{2014} = (-\det(A))^{1007}I_2. From (2) it results det(A)=0\det(A) = 0.

If det(A)=0\det(A) = 0, then this time (3) implies A2=tr(A)AA^2 = \operatorname{tr}(A)A. Inductively, An+1=trn(A)AA^{n+1} = \operatorname{tr}^n(A)A, nN\forall n \in \mathbb{N}^*. It follows that tr(An)=trn(A)\operatorname{tr}(A^n) = \operatorname{tr}^n(A), nN\forall n \in \mathbb{N}^*. As a special case, using (2), 0=tr(A2014)=tr2014(A)0 = \operatorname{tr}(A^{2014}) = \operatorname{tr}^{2014}(A), whence tr(A)=0\operatorname{tr}(A) = 0.

If tr(A)0\operatorname{tr}(A) \neq 0 and det(A)0\det(A) \neq 0. From (3), A2016tr(A)A2015+det(A)A2014=O2A^{2016} - \operatorname{tr}(A)A^{2015} + \det(A)A^{2014} = O_2. Then tr(A2016)tr(A)tr(A2015)+det(A)tr(A2014)=0\operatorname{tr}(A^{2016}) - \operatorname{tr}(A)\operatorname{tr}(A^{2015}) + \det(A)\operatorname{tr}(A^{2014}) = 0. Using (2) and our assumption, we get tr(A2015)=0\operatorname{tr}(A^{2015}) = 0. From (3), it follows that
tr(An)=1det(A)[tr(A)tr(An+1)tr(An+2)],nN. \operatorname{tr}(A^n) = \frac{1}{\operatorname{det}(A)} \left[ \operatorname{tr}(A) \operatorname{tr}(A^{n+1}) - \operatorname{tr}(A^{n+2}) \right], \quad n \in \mathbb{N}^*.
Thus, starting with tr(A2014)=tr(A2015)=0\operatorname{tr}(A^{2014}) = \operatorname{tr}(A^{2015}) = 0, we obtain recursively tr(A2013)=0\operatorname{tr}(A^{2013}) = 0, tr(A2012)=0\operatorname{tr}(A^{2012}) = 0, ..., tr(A)=0\operatorname{tr}(A) = 0, a contradiction. It follows that tr(A)=0\operatorname{tr}(A) = 0 and det(A)=0\det(A) = 0.

Finally, from (3) it follows that A2=O2A^2 = O_2, hence An=O2A^n = O_2, n2\forall n \ge 2. Then, for n2n \ge 2, we have det(AnI2)=det(I2)=1=det(I2)=det(An+I2)\det(A^n - I_2) = \det(-I_2) = 1 = \det(I_2) = \det(A^n + I_2). For n=1n = 1, from (1), det(AI2)=1=det(A+I2)\det(A - I_2) = 1 = \det(A + I_2).

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