patrick@nmtvax.UUCP (Patrick Madden) (03/14/86)
pumphrey@ttidcb.UUCP (Larry Pumphrey) pointed out some ambiguity in my posting. Hope this clears things up. > 1. Over what field do the elements a of the matrices M > ij i > range (and hence k in the companion matrix A)? i.e., the > rationals, reals, complexes? The reals. > 2. Any restrictions on the value of k? The problem is "given some k," find the matrices M1 thru M4. Picking the k makes things quite easy. The brownie points come from finding a solution that will work for all (or even some) k. > 3. Can any of the M be the identity matrix? > i Yes Rumor has it that there is some current literature on the problem by a Mr. Halmos (I'm not sure if this is the same person who has his name associated with some other ugly problems I've seen). A friend of mine will be calling Indiana today to try to track him down (rumor also has it that he is teaching there--don't know what university). Once again, any help is appreciated. If there's anyone on the net who happens to know a professor Halmos.... Thanx in advance again, Patrick Madden, at a dusty terminal in a dusty town in a dusty state.... !lanl!unmc!nmtvax!patrick |"Droids, I want to lose. I mean I want to lose. !unmvax!nmtvax!patrick | I want to see line editors on CRTs...."