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Given $B^T=B$ and if

$A^{T}BA=0,$

with $B\in{\rm{M}}_{2\times2}(\mathbb{C})$ and $A\in{\rm{M}}_{2\times2}(\mathbb{R})$

what values may $B$ take to satisfy this equation?

I think $B=0$ is one solution, any others?


more questions: just yes/ no answer is okay for these :)

if $ABC=0$ then does $(ABC)^t=0^t=0$

where $X^t$ is the transpose of $X$

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    @laurie: I edited your question using the usual notation for matrices over a field.2012-11-01

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For the first part: If you mean matrices $2\times 2$, then you should just play with those: denote $A=\left(\begin{array}{cc}a&b\\c&d\end{array}\right),\hspace{10pt}B=\left(\begin{array}{cc}x&y\\y&z\end{array}\right),\hspace{10pt}$ Calculate $A^tBA$ directly and compare to 0.
For the second part: if $X=Y$ then $X^t=Y^t$

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    Yes, it does: observe that in $B$ I denoted the entries by $x,y,z$ - three parameters instead of four, since if $B^t=B$ the of-diagonal entries are equal.2012-11-01