Analyzing the Setup
Imagine a 3×2 matrix A. The problem requires us to find the number of such matrices where the sum of the diagonal elements of ATA is exactly 5.
The expression ATA results in a 2×2 matrix. The diagonal elements of this product are the sums of the squares of the elements in each column of A.
Specifically, if A=[aij], the trace of ATA is given by:
Tr(ATA)=i=1∑3ai12+i=1∑3ai22=i=1∑3j=1∑2aij2
Thus, the condition simplifies to the requirement that the sum of the squares of all six elements of A must equal 5.
The Combinatorial Hunt
The elements aij are chosen from the set {−2,−1,0,1,2}. Squaring these values, we obtain the set of possible squares: {0,1,4}.
We must find combinations of six squares from this set that sum to 5. We identify two distinct cases:
Case 1: We use one 4, one 1, and four 0s. The sum is 4+1+0+0+0+0=5.
Case 2: We use five 1s and one 0. The sum is 1+1+1+1+1+0=5.
No other combinations are possible, as two 4s would exceed the sum of 5, and any other combination of the available squares fails to reach the target sum.
The Art of Arrangement
Now, we calculate the number of matrices for each case by considering both the placement of the values and their possible signs.
For Case 1:
We have 6 positions to fill. We choose one position for the 4 in (16)=6 ways and one position for the 1 in (15)=5 ways. The remaining four positions are filled with 0.
The value 4 can be represented by 2 or −2 (2 choices), and the value 1 can be represented by 1 or −1 (2 choices). The total number of matrices for Case 1 is:
For Case 2:
We have 6 positions and must choose one position for the 0 in (16)=6 ways. The remaining five positions are filled with 1s.
Each of the five 1s can be either 1 or −1, providing 25=32 sign variations. The total number of matrices for Case 2 is:
Final Calculation
To find the total number of matrices satisfying the condition, we sum the results from both cases:
The total number of such matrices is 312.