Let $F$ be a field, for $H \in M_{k \times k}(F)$, let $H^*$ be the adjugate matrix of $H$. (Where the adjugate $H^*$ is the transpose of the matrix of cofactors of $H$.)
I am trying to prove the following two results:
1) If $H, G \in M_{n \times n}(F)$, then ${(HG)}^* = G^* H^*$.
2) If $H \in M_{n \times n}(F)$ and $G \in M_{m \times m}(F)$, then \begin{equation*} \begin{pmatrix} H & 0 \\ 0 & G \end{pmatrix}^* = \begin{pmatrix} \det(G) H^* & 0 \\ 0 & \det(H) G^* \end{pmatrix}. \end{equation*}
My current idea, is that both of these results hold for invertible matrices (using that $H^* = \det(H) H^{-1}$, when $H \in GL_n(F)$). Then, using that the set of invertible matrices is Zariski dense $M_{n \times n}(F)$, deduce the result for all matrices.
This argument is very similar to the topological proof of the Cayley-Hamilton theorem. To this end it would be useful to have a reference for a proof of the Cayley-Hamilton theorem using algebraic geometry. Alternatively, does anyone know of a reference which proves the two results.
