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29 votes
12 answers
6k views

When does 'positive' imply 'sum of squares'?

Does anyone have examples of when an object is positive, then it has (or does not have) a square root? Or more generally, can be written as a sum of squares? Example. A positive integer does not ...
29 votes
3 answers
3k views

Perron-Frobenius "inverse eigenvalue problem"

The Perron-Frobenius theorem says that the largest eigenvalue of a positive real matrix (all entries positive) is real. Moreover, that eigenvalue has a positive eigenvector, and it is the only ...
Gene S. Kopp's user avatar
  • 2,200
26 votes
5 answers
1k views

Condition for a matrix to be a perfect power of an integer matrix

I have a question that seems to be rather simple but for I got no clue so far. Let's say I have a matrix $A$ of size $2\times 2$ and integer entries. I want to know if there is a kind of test or ...
Luis Ferroni's user avatar
  • 1,889
23 votes
3 answers
2k views

On determinants formed by binomial coefficients

Let $q$ be a number. Let us consider the $q^2-1$-th line of the Pascal triangle (i.e. numbers ${{q^2-1} \choose i}$, $i=0,1,...q^2-1$). We have $q^2$ numbers. Let us form naively a $q \times q$ ...
Dmitry Logachev's user avatar
21 votes
2 answers
2k views

Lifting matrices mod 2 to integers.

The following question was motivated by my research. Consider a $n\times n$ matrix whose elements are $0$'s or $1$'s such that the determinant is odd. The question is: is it possible to assign signs ...
Petya's user avatar
  • 4,736
21 votes
1 answer
653 views

Characteristic polynomial of the Gcd matrix

Let $A_n$ be the $n \times n$-matrix with entries $\gcd(i,j)$ and $f_n$ the characteristic polynomial of $A_n$. Question: Is $f_n$ irreducible over $\mathbb{Q}$ for all $n$ except $n=8$? This is ...
Mare's user avatar
  • 26.5k
20 votes
2 answers
1k views

Euler numbers and permanent of matrices

Motivated by Question 402249 of Zhi-Wei Sun, I consider the permanent of matrices $$e(n)=\mathrm{per}\left[\operatorname{sgn} \left(\tan\pi\frac{j+k}n \right)\right]_{1\le j,k\le n-1},$$ where $n$ is ...
Deyi Chen's user avatar
  • 884
18 votes
2 answers
488 views

Encoding primes via ranks of sign matrices

(Reposted from math.SE) Recently I came across a very simply defined family of matrices: for $n \in \mathbb{N}$, set $A_n := (a_{ij})_{0 \le i, j \le n-1}$, where $$\displaystyle a_{ij} := (-1)^{\big\...
math54321's user avatar
  • 281
17 votes
2 answers
1k views

The GCD-matrix: generalizing a result of Smith?

Let $M$ be the $n\times n$ matrix, known as the GCD matrix, of entries $M_{ij}=\gcd(i,j)$. In the paper H J S Smith, On the value of a certain arithmetical determinant, Proc. London Math. Soc. 7:208-...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
16 votes
4 answers
930 views

Integer matrices whose determinant equals their norm

Let $M$ be an $2 \times 2$ matrix, with all entries in $\mathbb{N}$: $$ M= \begin{bmatrix} a & b \\ c & d \end{bmatrix} \;. $$ So $$ \mathrm{det}(M) = a d - b c \; . $$ The Euclidean norm (...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
15 votes
2 answers
1k views

Vanishing of a sum of roots of unity

In my answer to this question, there appears the following sub-question about a sum of roots of unity. Denoting $z=\exp\frac{i\pi}N$ (so that $z^N=-1$), can the quantity $$\sum_{k=0}^{N-1}z^{2k^2+k}$$ ...
Denis Serre's user avatar
  • 52.3k
15 votes
1 answer
603 views

Geometry of numbers for three by three matrices?

While trying to use Minkowski's theorem to calculate the (left) class number of a noncommutative ring, I ran into the following problem: What is the volume of the largest symmetric convex subset $S$...
zeb's user avatar
  • 8,688
15 votes
1 answer
475 views

Determinant of a matrix filled with elements of the Thue–Morse sequence

Let $n$ be a positive integer. Suppose we fill a square matrix $n\times n$ row-by-row with the first $n^2$ elements of the Thue–Morse sequence (with indexes from $0$ to $n^2-1$). Let $\mathcal D_n$ be ...
Vladimir Reshetnikov's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
697 views

in search of a transformation between determinants

Motivated by this MO question. Consider the two matrices $A_n$ and $B_n$ with entries $\binom{2j}i$ and $\binom{n+1}{2j-i}$, respectively; for $1\leq i, \,j\leq n$. I can show $\det A_n=\det B_n=2^{\...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
13 votes
3 answers
746 views

Is there a row vector $x$ with integer entries such that no entry of $xM$ is $0 \text{ (mod }p\text{)}$?

Let $p$ be a prime and let $M$ be an $n \times m$ matrix with integer entries such that $M\vec{v} \not\equiv \vec{0} \text{ (mod }p\text{)}$ for any column vector $\vec{v} \neq \vec{0}$ whose entries ...
Analysis Student's user avatar
13 votes
0 answers
713 views

Regular languages of matrices and their generating functions

My question is somewhat related to this question. Let us fix natural numbers $k$ and $C$. Let $A$ be an automaton whose alphabet consists of $k\times k$ matrices with integer coefficients of ...
Łukasz Grabowski's user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
3k views

Eigenvalues of nonnegative integer matrices

Edit I realized that the key piece of information that I need is question 1, and so I'd like to rephrase this post: What are the possible eigenvalues of nonnegative integer matrices? Any answer to ...
Brian Rushton's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
1k views

Does the Hasse principle hold for the square root problem on symmetric matrices?

Let $S$ be an $n \times n$ symmetric matrix with rational entries. It is known that the equation $XX^T=S$ has a solution in $\text{M}_n(\mathbb{Q})$ if and only if it has a solution in $\text{M}_n(\...
Clément de Seguins Pazzis's user avatar
11 votes
3 answers
605 views

Number of matrices with bounded products of rows and columns

Fix an integer $d \geq 2$ and for every real number $x$ let $M_d(x)$ be number of $d \times d$ matrices $(a_{ij})$ satisfying: every $a_{ij}$ is a positive integer, the product of every row does not ...
Kate's user avatar
  • 213
11 votes
3 answers
1k views

Congruence subgroups as abstract groups

This is probably well know, and maybe even trivial, but not to me. Consider for concreteness the subgroup $$ \pm\Gamma_0(3)=\left\{\begin{pmatrix}a & b \\ c & d\end{pmatrix}:\;a,b,c,d\in\...
Alex B.'s user avatar
  • 13k
11 votes
3 answers
591 views

Non-singular matrix with restricted entries

Given a set $S$ of integers with $1 \not\in S$, let us consider the set $\mathcal{M}$ of all the symmetric matrices $M$, such that: All the diagonal entries of $M$ are equal to $1$. All the off-...
Hao's user avatar
  • 571
11 votes
1 answer
410 views

An "existence contra partition of unity" statement for integer matrices?

While reading a blog post on partitions of unity at the Secret Blogging Seminar the following question came into my mind. Let $n$ be a positive integer and let $B_1$ and $B_2$ be $n \times n$ ...
Philipp Lampe's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
454 views

Is the number of similarity classes of integer matrices with given minimal and characteristic polynomial finite?

Latimer and MacDuffee proved that there is a bijection between similarity classes of integer matrices with irreducible characteristic polynomial $\chi$ and the ideal class monoid of $\mathbb{Z}[\alpha]...
Ben Marlin's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
875 views

n! divides a product: Part II

This is a follow up on another MO question. Question. For $n\geq2$, the following is always an integer. Is it not? $$\frac{(2^n-2)(2^{n-1}-2)\cdots(2^3-2)(2^2-2)}{n!}.$$
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
794 views

Why do these finite group Dedekind matrices seem to have integer spectrum when specialized to the order of group elements?

Let $p$ be a prime and let $f_p$ be the permutation on the set $\{1,2,\cdots,p-1\}$ which is given by taking inverses in $\mathbb{Z}/(p)$: $$x \bmod(p) \mapsto \frac{1}{x} \bmod (p)$$ So for instance, ...
mathoverflowUser's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
544 views

Product of a Finite Number of Matrices Related to Roots of Unity

Does anyone have an idea how to prove the following identity? $$ \mathop{\mathrm{Tr}}\left(\prod_{j=0}^{n-1}\begin{pmatrix} x^{-2j} & -x^{2j+1} \\ 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix}\right)= \begin{cases} ...
David Sun's user avatar
  • 309
9 votes
2 answers
646 views

Are these two methods for constructing Hadamard matrices known?

These two observations came while researching the empty set of odd perfect numbers and unitary perfect numbers: Context: Let $n$ be a natural number and $D_n$ be the set of divisors. We can make this ...
mathoverflowUser's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
709 views

Automorphisms of a matrix in Smith normal form?

Added: Amritanshu Prasad's answer makes it clear that I am really asking for a description of the group of integer unimodular matrices $P$ such that $D^{-1}PD$ is also integer. These matrices are ...
Will Orrick's user avatar
  • 2,150
9 votes
1 answer
553 views

What matrix groups can be embedded in $Sp_4$?

In a joint paper with Yifan Yang we constructed an "exotic" embedding of $SL_2(\mathbb R)$ in $Sp_4(\mathbb R)$ (in fact, of $PSL_2(\mathbb R)$ in $PSp_4(\mathbb R)$), namely, $$ \iota\colon\begin{...
Wadim Zudilin's user avatar
8 votes
4 answers
7k views

Positive solutions of linear Diophantine equations

Let $A$ be a non-negative integer $k\times n$-matrix (i.e. each entry is non-negative and integer) with $rank(A) = k < n$. Let $b$ be a $k$-dimensional vector with positive integer entries. ...
SIB's user avatar
  • 351
8 votes
1 answer
533 views

What is the minimum $k$ such that $A^k \equiv I$ mod p for invertible matrices?

Let $F$ be a finite field of order $p$, where $p$ is prime. For any $n\times n$ matrix $A$ that is invertible over $F$, then there would appear to exist integers $k$ such that $A^{k} = I$. My question ...
Joe Fitzsimons's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
392 views

Bounding eigenvalues by taking high powers of matrices: history?

Let $A$ be real symmetric matrix. It is a well-known observation that we can bound any eigenvalue $\lambda$ of $A$ by using the fact that $$\lambda^{2 k} \leq \textrm{Tr} A^{2 k}$$ for any $k\geq 1$. ...
H A Helfgott's user avatar
  • 20.2k
7 votes
1 answer
792 views

Remarkable recursions for the A204262

Let $a(n)$ be A204262 i.e. permanent of the matrix $n\times n$ with elements $\min(i,j)$. Let $$ f_{n,\ell}(x)=g_{n,\ell}(x)+f_{n,\ell-1}(\ell)-g_{n,\ell}(\ell), \\ g_{n,\ell}(x)=\int (n-\ell)^2 f_{n-...
Notamathematician's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
502 views

Do the following binary vectors span $\mathbb{R}^n$?

Defining the binary vectors Let an ordered triple of natural numbers $(r, d, n)$ such that $0 \leq r < d \leq n$ be given. Consider the binary vector $v_{(r,d,n)} \in \mathbb{R}^n$ such that for ...
Michael Wehar's user avatar
7 votes
4 answers
526 views

If the series Σ pᵃ⁽ʷ⁾·xᴵʷᴵ is rational, is Σ a(w)·xᴵʷᴵ also rational (summation over words w in a regular language)?

Let $p$ be a prime number and let $a_i$ be a sequence of natural numbers such that the series $\sum_{i=1}^\infty p^{a_i} x^i$ is rational. A warm-up question: Question 1. Does it follow that the ...
Łukasz Grabowski's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
905 views

The Möbius function as eigenvalues

Let the $N$ by $N$ matrix $A$ be defined by the tetration: $$\Large \text{If } \gcd(n, k)=1 \text{ then } A(n,k)= \underbrace{e^{e^{\cdot^{\cdot^{e^{\Re\left(\frac{1}{n^s}\right)}}}}}}_m \text{ else }...
Mats Granvik's user avatar
  • 1,183
7 votes
0 answers
177 views

Matrix of high rank mod $2$: must it have a large non-singular minor (with disjoint rows and columns)?

Let $A$ be a $2n$-by-$2n$ matrix with entries in $\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$ such that, for every $2n$-by-$2n$ diagonal matrix $D$ with entries in $\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$, the matrix $A+D$ has rank $\...
H A Helfgott's user avatar
  • 20.2k
6 votes
3 answers
1k views

"Nearly" Fermat triples: case cubic

Suppose $a^2+b^2-c^2=0$ are formed by a (integral) Pythagorean triple. Then, there are $3\times3$ integer matrices to generate infinitely many more triples. For example, take $$\begin{bmatrix}-1&2&...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
392 views

Arithmetic properties of positively reduced $2\times 2$-matrices

Call a $2\times 2$ matrix with coefficients in $\{0,1,2,3,\ldots\}$ positively reduced if any row or column reduction (given by replacing a row/column by itself minus the other row/column) produces at ...
Roland Bacher's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
566 views

Public key cryptography based on non-invertible matrices?

Added Wed 13 Apr 2022 I have written a short note with experimental data, which shows not all pseudo keys are good keys. Public key cryptography based on non-invertible matrices We got public key ...
joro's user avatar
  • 25.4k
6 votes
1 answer
192 views

Monte-Carlo computation of the Smith normal form

Quite some time ago I saw an article where a Monte-Carlo algorithm for computing the Smith normal form of an integer matrix was described. In this article the following problem was posed: Suppose $P, ...
Jan-Christoph Schlage-Puchta's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
309 views

Is this generalization of the Hopf map for quadratic field extensions surjective?

Let $k$ be a field, and let $L$ be a quadratic extension of $k$. Denote by $\sigma$ the non-trivial element of $\operatorname{Gal}(L/k)$. Let $M_2(L)$ be the vector space over $L$ of two-by-two ...
Malkoun's user avatar
  • 5,215
6 votes
0 answers
199 views

Zero-one pairings between sets of vectors

Let $A\subseteq V$ and $B\subseteq V^\star$ be spanning sets in a finite-dimensional real vector space $V$ and its dual $V^\star$. Suppose that $$ \langle b,a\rangle\in\lbrace0,1\rbrace $$ for all $a\...
Semen Podkorytov's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
336 views

Legendre's three-square theorem and squared norm of integer matrices

Let $\mathbb{N}$ be the set of non-negative integers. Let $E_n$ be the set of integers which are the sum of $n$ squares. Let $F_n$ be the set of integers of the form $\Vert A \Vert^2$ with $A \in M_n(...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
228 views

Lower bound for order of matrix modulo $n$

For a positive integer $n$ and a square matrix $A$ with integral entries, let $\text{ord}(A, n)$ be the smallest positive integer $k$ such that $A^k \equiv \mathbf{1} \bmod n$, if such integer $k$ ...
user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
303 views

Efficiently computing $\prod_{i=1}^{n} A_i$

Let $k$ be a nonnegative integer, how to compute $\prod\limits_{i=1}^{n} A_i$ quickly and accurately, where $$A_i=\begin{bmatrix} 0 & 1\\ i^k & 1 \end{bmatrix}?$$ I know if $k=0$, we can use ...
user369335's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
254 views

Convergence of a series related to $\mathrm{SL}_2({\mathbb N})$

The question The number $\pi$ and summation by $SL(2,\mathbb Z)$ considers the series $$\sum(\lVert x\rVert+\lVert y\rVert-\lVert x+y\rVert)$$ where the series runs over vectors $x,y\in{\mathbb N}^2$ ...
Denis Serre's user avatar
  • 52.3k
5 votes
1 answer
235 views

Can a product of Cohn matrices over the Eisenstein integers with non-zero, non-unit coefficients be a Cohn matrix?

For $k > 1$, is it possible that $\begin{pmatrix} a_1 & 1 \\ -1 & 0 \end{pmatrix}\begin{pmatrix} a_2 & 1 \\ -1 & 0 \end{pmatrix}\ldots \begin{pmatrix} a_k & 1 \\ -1 & 0 \end{...
Arseniy Sheydvasser's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
152 views

Distance function on generalized upper half planes

Let $\mathbb{H}^n$ be the quotient $GL_n(\mathbb{R})/O(n) \cdot \mathbb{R}^\times$, which at least in the theory of automorphic forms is called a generalized upper half plane. We could also think of $...
Radu T's user avatar
  • 767
5 votes
0 answers
262 views

p-adic analogue of self-adjoint operator

Consider the very well-known result that any Hermitian matrix over $\mathbb{C}$, say $T$, admits a decomposition $T = UDU^*$ where $U$ is unitary and $D$ is diagonal with real entries. I am looking ...
GiantTortoise1729's user avatar