Problem

Source: Romanian National Olympiad 1998 - Grade 11 - Problem 1

Tags: linear algebra



We consider the nonzero matrices $A_0, A_1, \ldots, A_n \in \mathcal{M}_2(\mathbb{R}),$ $n \ge 2,$ with the properties: $A_0 \neq aI_2$ for any $a \in \mathbb{R}$ and $A_0A_k=A_kA_0$ for $k= \overline{1,n}.$ Prove that a) $\det \left(\sum\limits_{k=1}^n A_k^2 \right) \ge 0$; b) If $\det \left(\sum\limits_{k=1}^n A_k^2 \right) = 0$ and $A_2 \ne aA_1$ for any $a \in \mathbb{R},$ then $\sum\limits_{k=1}^n A_k^2=O_2.$