We will prove a more general result by induction (Proof Technique
I). Then the theorem will be true as a special case. We will carefully state this result as a proposition indexed by
\(m\text{,}\) \(m\geq 1\text{.}\)
\(P(m)\text{:}\) Suppose that \(A\) is an \(m\times m\) matrix whose entries are complex numbers or linear polynomials in the variable \(x\) of the form \(c-x\text{,}\) where \(c\) is a complex number. Suppose further that there are exactly \(k\) entries that contain \(x\) and that no row or column contains more than one such entry. Then, when \(k=m\text{,}\) \(\detname{A}\) is a polynomial in \(x\) of degree \(m\text{,}\) with leading coefficient \(\pm 1\text{,}\) and when \(k\lt m\text{,}\) \(\detname{A}\) is a polynomial in \(x\) of degree \(k\) or less.
Base Case: Suppose
\(A\) is a
\(1\times 1\) matrix. Then its determinant is equal to the lone entry (
Definition DM). When
\(k=m=1\text{,}\) the entry is of the form
\(c-x\text{,}\) a polynomial in
\(x\) of degree
\(m=1\) with leading coefficient
\(-1\text{.}\) When
\(k\lt m\text{,}\) then
\(k=0\) and the entry is simply a complex number, a polynomial of degree
\(0\leq k\text{.}\) So
\(P(1)\) is true.
Induction Step: Assume \(P(m)\) is true, and that \(A\) is an \((m+1)\times(m+1)\) matrix with \(k\) entries of the form \(c-x\text{.}\) There are two cases to consider.
Suppose
\(k=m+1\text{.}\) Then every row and every column will contain an entry of the form
\(c-x\text{.}\) Suppose that for the first row, this entry is in column
\(t\text{.}\) Compute the determinant of
\(A\) by an expansion about this first row (
Definition DM). The term associated with entry
\(t\) of this row will be of the form
\begin{equation*}
(c-x)(-1)^{1+t}\detname{\submatrix{A}{1}{t}}\text{.}
\end{equation*}
The submatrix \(\submatrix{A}{1}{t}\) is an \(m\times m\) matrix with \(k=m\) terms of the form \(c-x\text{,}\) no more than one per row or column. By the induction hypothesis, \(\detname{\submatrix{A}{1}{t}}\) will be a polynomial in \(x\) of degree \(m\) with coefficient \(\pm 1\text{.}\) So this entire term is then a polynomial of degree \(m+1\) with leading coefficient \(\pm 1\text{.}\)
The remaining terms (which constitute the sum that is the determinant of \(A\)) are products of complex numbers from the first row with cofactors built from submatrices that lack the first row of \(A\) and lack some column of \(A\text{,}\) other than column \(t\text{.}\) As such, these submatrices are \(m\times m\) matrices with \(k=m-1\lt m\) entries of the form \(c-x\text{,}\) no more than one per row or column. Applying the induction hypothesis, we see that these terms are polynomials in \(x\) of degree \(m-1\) or less. Adding the single term from the entry in column \(t\) with all these others, we see that \(\detname{A}\) is a polynomial in \(x\) of degree \(m+1\) and leading coefficient \(\pm 1\text{.}\)
The second case occurs when
\(k\lt m+1\text{.}\) Now there is a row of
\(A\) that does not contain an entry of the form
\(c-x\text{.}\) We consider the determinant of
\(A\) by expanding about this row (
Theorem DER), whose entries are all complex numbers. The cofactors employed are built from submatrices that are
\(m\times m\) matrices with either
\(k\) or
\(k-1\) entries of the form
\(c-x\text{,}\) no more than one per row or column. In either case,
\(k\leq m\text{,}\) and we can apply the induction hypothesis to see that the determinants computed for the cofactors are all polynomials of degree
\(k\) or less. Summing these contributions to the determinant of
\(A\) yields a polynomial in
\(x\) of degree
\(k\) or less, as desired.
Definition CP tells us that the characteristic polynomial of an
\(n\times n\) matrix is the determinant of a matrix having exactly
\(n\) entries of the form
\(c-x\text{,}\) no more than one per row or column. As such we can apply
\(P(n)\) to see that the characteristic polynomial has degree
\(n\text{.}\)