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harazi's diminished radical matrices

Source: Romanian Nationals RMO 2005 - grade 11, problem 1

March 31, 2005
linear algebramatrixlinear algebra unsolved

Problem Statement

Let n2n\geq 2 a fixed integer. We shall call a n×nn\times n matrix AA with rational elements a radical matrix if there exist an infinity of positive integers kk, such that the equation Xk=AX^k=A has solutions in the set of n×nn\times n matrices with rational elements. a) Prove that if AA is a radical matrix then detA{1,0,1}\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. After an idea of Harazi