Question

The diagonal elements of a skew symmetric matrix are ____________.

Options

• all zeroes

• are all equal to some scalar k(≠ 0)

• can be any number

• none of these

Answer 1

The diagonal elements of a skew-symmetric matrix are all zeroes.

Explanation:

as in skew symmetric matrix, a_ij = -a_ji

⇒ a_ii = - a_ii

⇒ 2a_ii = 0

⇒ a_ii = 0, i.e. diagonal elements are zeroes.