linear algebra...urgent help required..please..

meforyou

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May 2, 2009
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find a nonzero 3 x 3 matrix B such that BB has all zero entries. Please explain your reasoning for your solution, and review (and comment) on other responses.
 
Let's take a general case:

\(\displaystyle \begin{bmatrix}a&b&c\\d&e&f\\g&h&i\end{bmatrix}\)

They are asking if you square it, then you get a zero matrix.

Upon doing so, we get:

\(\displaystyle \begin{bmatrix}a^{2}+bd+cg&ab+be+ch&ac+bf+ci\\ad+de+fg&bd+e^{2}+fh&cd+ef+fi\\ag+dh+gi&bg+eh+hi&cg+fh+i^{2}\end{bmatrix}\)

Now, each of these must equal 0. Use some imagination and see if you can do that. For instance,

\(\displaystyle a^{2}+bd+cg=0\) along with the others.

There may be some thereom I am not aware of that makes this easy. I don't know.
 
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