Let $A,B$ be two $n\times n$ matrices with real entries, where $n$ is odd, such that $A\cdot A^{t}=I_n$ and $B\cdot B^{t}=I_n$. Prove that $$\det(A+B)\det(A-B)=0$$ It is obvious that $A^{-1}=A^{t}$ and $B^{-1}=B^{t}$, so $\det A, \det B = \pm 1$. Then I tried to write $\det(A+B)\det(A-B)=\det(A^2-AB+BA-B^2)$, but I didn't get anything useful.
2026-03-27 14:30:13.1774621813
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Prove that $\det(A+B)\det(A-B)=0$
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We know that... $(A+B)(A-B)=A^2-AB+BA-B^2$ So $det[(A+B)(A-B)]=d(A^2-AB+BA-B^2)≠0 $ in general. Which is possible when $A,B$ be the involuntary matrix. i.e $A=A^{-1},B=B^{-1}$,then $A$ and $B$ are commutative i.e $AB=BA$ and $A^2=I_n,B^2=I_n$. Hence in this case... $det[(A+B)(A-B)]=det(A+B)det(A-B)=det(I_n-AB+AB-I_n)=0$. If I mistake please tell me.
$$\begin{aligned}\det(A+B)\det(A-B)&=\det(A+B)\det(A^T-B^T) \\ &= \det(AA^T+BA^T-AB^T-BB^T)\\&=\det(BA^T-AB^T)\end{aligned}$$
Now use the assumption that $n$ is odd and the fact that $C=BA^T-AB^T$ is skew-symmetric: $C=-C^T$.