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Counterexample

Is this true?

Every real symmetric matrix is positive definite if det > 0

No — it is false.

The counterexample

The object that kills this claim comes with Trap Analysis.

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86 counterexamples are free — including most of the ones Part C leans on hardest.

Go deeper· Explained in full in Quadratic forms, signature and definiteness· Asked in CSIR NET June 2025· From Inner Product Spaces and Forms › Quadratic forms, positive definiteness, Sylvester's law

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