Math Is Fun Forum

EPhillips1989

Member

Registered: 2007-11-03

Posts: 29

Examples Needed

can anyone please give an example of a 2x2 matrix B with B^2=0(2X2)

TheDude

Member

Registered: 2007-10-23

Posts: 361

Re: Examples Needed

Build the matrix and solve for it:

This gives you a system of 4 simultaneous equations:

Solve these and you'll have your array.

Last edited by TheDude (2007-11-26 02:20:14)

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Wrap it in bacon

mikau

Member

Registered: 2005-08-22

Posts: 1,504

Re: Examples Needed

try this. Represent the elements of B as variables a, b, c and d like so
|a b|
|c d|

square this matrix to obtain
|(a^2 + bc)   (ab + db)|
|(ac + dc)   (bc + d^2)|

now you need to find any a,b, c and d such that all these entries become zero. Can you think of any? (hint, use as many zeros as possible, but don't use all zeros, your book probably wants a non zero matrix).

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A logarithm is just a misspelled algorithm.

mikau

Member

Registered: 2005-08-22

Posts: 1,504

Re: Examples Needed

gah, you beat me to it, TheDude!

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A logarithm is just a misspelled algorithm.