Let be a positive integer. For and in , let be the number of pairs of nonnegative integers satisfying . Let be the -by- matrix whose entry is . For example, when , we have . Compute the determinant of .
Solution
The determinant equals . To begin with, we read off the following features of . \begin{itemize} \item is symmetric: for all , corresponding to ). \item , corresponding to . \item If is even, then for , corresponding to . \item For , , corresponding to . \end{itemize} Let be the matrix obtained from by performing row and column operations as follows: for , subtract times row from row and subtract times column from column ; then subtract row from row and column from column . Evidently is again symmetric and . Let us examine row of for : \begin{align*} T_{i1} &= S_{i1} - S_{in} S_{(n-1)1} = 2-1\cdot 2 = 0 \\ T_{ij} &= S_{ij} - S_{in} S_{(n-1)j} - S_{nj}S_{i(n-1)}\\ & = \begin{cases} 1 & \mbox{if divides } \\ 0 & \mbox{otherwise}. \end{cases} \quad (1 < j < n-1) \\ T_{i(n-1)} &= S_{i(n-1)} - S_{in} S_{(n-1)(n-1)} = 0-1\cdot0 = 0 \\ T_{in} &= S_{in} - S_{in} S_{(n-1)n} - S_{i(n-1)} = 1 - 1\cdot1 - 0 = 0. \end{align*} Now recall (e.g., from the expansion of a determinant in minors) if a matrix contains an entry equal to 1 which is the unique nonzero entry in either its row or its column, then we may strike out this entry (meaning striking out the row and column containing it) at the expense of multiplying the determinant by a sign. To simplify notation, we do \emph{not} renumber rows and columns after performing this operation. We next verify that for the matrix , for in turn, it is valid to strike out and at the cost of multiplying the determinant by -1. Namely, when we reach the entry , the only other nonzero entries in this row have the form where divides , and those entries are in previously struck columns. We thus compute as: \begin{gather*} (-1)^{\lfloor n/2 \rfloor-1} \det \begin{pmatrix} n+1 & -1 & 0 \\ -1 & 0 & 1 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix} \mbox{for odd,} \\ (-1)^{\lfloor n/2 \rfloor-1} \det \begin{pmatrix} n+1 & -1 & 2 & 0 \\ -1 & -1 & 1 & -1 \\ 2 & 1 & 0 & 1 \\ 0 & -1 & 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix} \mbox{for even.} \end{gather*} In the odd case, we can strike the last two rows and columns (creating another negation) and then conclude at once. In the even case, the rows and columns are labeled ; by adding row/column to row/column , we produce and we can again strike the last two rows and columns (creating another negation) and then read off the result. \n\n\textbf{Remark.} One can use a similar approach to compute some related determinants. For example, let be the matrix with for all . In terms of an indeterminate , define the matrix by We then have where denotes the number of divisors of and f_n(q,t) = \begin{cases} q^{n-1}t+q^2-2t & \mbox{for $n$ odd,} \\ q^{n-1}t +q^2-qt-t & \mbox{for $n$ even.} \end{cases} Taking and then dividing by , this yields a \emph{-deformation} of the original matrix .