URECA Solution Draft

Given positive integers n and k where n k k. Let d 2 be an integer.

First we consider the set of k (n k) matrices over Zd which we denote by
Mk,nk (Zd ).
Definition. We call a matrix B Mk,nk (Zd ) injective in Mk,nk (Zd ) if
for any nonzero ~c M1,k (Zd ), the matrix product ~cB is also nonzero in
M1,nk (Zd ).
Suppose we take d = p where p is a prime number. We know that Zp is
a field. This means that a matrix B is injective in Mk,nk (Zp ) if and only
if B has linearly independent row vectors. The total number of injective
matrices in Mk,nk (Zp ) is:
Ip (n, k) = (pnk 1)(pnk p) (pnk pk1 )
Now we consider the case when d = q where q is a product of distinct primes
p1 , p2 , . . . , pm , m 2 or q is a composite square-free integer. We claim that
the total number of injective matrices in Mk,nk (Zq ) is:
Iq (n, k) = Ip1 (n, k) Ip2 (n, k) Ipm (n, k)
Lemma. A matrix B is injective in Mk,nk (Zq ) if and only if the matrices
B mod pi is injective in Mk,nk (Zpi ) for all i = 1, 2, . . . , m.
The matrices B mod pi are obtained by reducing all elements of B in modulo
pi . Conversely, suppose we are given matrices from Mk,nk (Zpi ), one matrix
for each i. By Chinese Remainder Theorem, we will have a unique matrix B
in Mk,nk (Zq ) where B mod pi are exactly those given matrices.
Proof. ( = ) Suppose B is injective in Mk,nk (Zq ).
1

Proof by contradiction: Suppose pj where B mod pj is not injective in

Mk,nk (Zpj ). Hence, there is some nonzero ~v M1,k (Zpj ) where ~v (B mod
pj ) = ~0. Since Zpj is a subset of Zq , we can consider ~v as an element of
M1,k (Zq ). Thus,
~v (B mod pj ) = ~0 = (~v B) mod pj = ~0
because when we reduce the elements of ~v B in modulo pj , we simply get the
elements of ~v (B mod pj ). Hence every element of ~v B is divisible by pj . As
pj and pqj are coprime, it follows that each element of pqj ~v B must be equal
to 0 modulo q.
Therefore, we have pqj ~v B = ~0. However, we note that the vector pqj ~v is
nonzero in M1,k (Zq ) since ~v is nonzero in M1,k (Zpj ). This contradicts the
injectivity of B in Mk,nk (Zq ).
( = ) Suppose the matrices B mod pi is injective in Mk,nk (Zpi ) for all
i = 1, 2, . . . , m. Take any nonzero ~c in M1,k (Zq ).
Suppose ~cB = ~0. Thus for all i,
(~c mod pi ) (B mod pi ) = ~0
which leads to ~c mod pi = ~0 because B mod pi is injective in Mk,nk (Zpi ).
Hence we obtain that every element of ~c is divisible by pi for any i.
Consequently, ~c = ~0 M1,k (Zq ) as p1 , p2 , . . . , pm are pairwise coprime. This
clearly contradicts that ~c is nonzero in M1,k (Zq ).
Therefore, ~cB 6= ~0 so B is injective in Mk,nk (Zq ).
It follows immediately from the Lemma that
Iq (n, k) = Ip1 (n, k) Ip2 (n, k) Ipm (n, k)

A Lower Bound for Nd (n, k)

n
Total number of symmetric zero diagonal matrices: d( 2 )
For a particular A with |A| = k and A {1, 2, . . . , n}, the number of zero
diagonal matrices that do not satisfy the second condition with this A is:
n

d( 2 ) Id (n, k) d( 2 )k(nk)


There are nk possible choices for A so the upper bound of the total number
of symmetric zero diagonal matrices that do not satisfy the second condition
is:
  h
i
n
n
n
d( 2 ) Id (n, k) d( 2 )k(nk)
k
Finally, we will be able to find a lower bound for Nd (n, k):
  h
i
n
n
n
n
(
)
2
Nd (n, k) d
d( 2 ) Id (n, k) d( 2 )k(nk)
k