AlgebraDifficulty 7.8National olympiad, round 2Find the answer
Let dn be the determinant of the n×n matrix whose entries, from left to right and then from top to bottom, are $\cos 1, \cos 2, \dots, \cos n^2$. Evaluate limn→∞dn.
A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.
Solution
The limit is 0; we will show this by checking that dn=0 for all n≥3. Starting from the given matrix, add the third column to the first column; this does not change the determinant. However, thanks to the identity cosx+cosy=2cos2x+ycos2x−y, the resulting matrix has the form 2cos2cos12cos(n+2)cos12cos(2n+2)cos1⋮cos2cos(n+2)2cos(2n+2)⋮⋯⋯⋯⋱ with the first column being a multiple of the second. Hence dn=0.
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