If $a, b, c$, are non zero complex numbers satisfying $a^2+b^2+c^2=0$ and $\left|\begin{array}{ccc}b^2+c^2 &…

If $a, b, c$, are non zero complex numbers satisfying $a^2+b^2+c^2=0$ and $\left|\begin{array}{ccc}b^2+c^2 & a b & a c \\ a b & c^2+a^2 & b c \\ a c & b c & a^2+b^2\end{array}\right|=k a^2 b^2 c^2$, then $k$ is equal to
  1. 1
  2. 3
  3. 4
  4. 2

Solution

Let $\Delta=\left|\begin{array}{ccc}b^2+c^2 & a b & a c \\ a b & c^2+a^2 & b c \\ a c & b c & a^2+b^2\end{array}\right|$ Multiply $C_1$ by $a, C_2$ by b and $C_3$ by $\mathrm{c}$ and hence divide by $a b c$. $ =\frac{1}{a b c}\left|\begin{array}{ccc} a\left(b^2+c^2\right. & \left.a b^2\right) & a c^2 \\ a^2 b & b\left(c^2+a^2\right. & \left.b c^2\right) \\ a^2 c & b^2 c & c\left(a^2+b^2\right. \end{array}\right| $ Take out $a, b, c$ common from $R_1, R_2$ and $R_3$ respectively. $ \begin{aligned} & \therefore \quad \Delta=\frac{a b c}{a b c}\left|\begin{array}{ccc} b^2+c^2 & b^2 & c^2 \\ a^2 & c^2+a^2 & c^2 \\ a^2 & b^2 & a^2+b^2 \end{array}\right| \\ & \text { Apply } C_1 \rightarrow C_1-C_2-C_3 \\ & \Delta=\left|\begin{array}{ccc} 0 & b^2 & c^2 \\ -2 c^2 & c^2+a^2 & c^2 \\ -2 b^2 & b^2 & a^2+b^2 \end{array}\right| \\ & =-2\left|\begin{array}{ccc} 0 & b^2 & c^2 \\ c^2 & c^2+a^2 & c^2 \\ b^2 & b^2 & a^2+b^2 \end{array}\right| \\ & \end{aligned} $ Apply $C_2-C_1$ and $C_3-C_1$ $ \begin{aligned} & =-2\left|\begin{array}{ccc} 0 & b^2 & c^2 \\ c^2 & a^2 & 0 \\ b^2 & 0 & a^2 \end{array}\right| \\ & =-2\left[-b^2\left(c^2 a^2\right)+c^2\left(-a^2 b^2\right)\right] \\ & =2 a^2 b^2 c^2+2 a^2 b^2 c^2=4 a^2 b^2 c^2 \\ & \text { But } \Delta=k a^2 b^2 c^2 \therefore k=4 \end{aligned} $

Asked in: JEE Main 2012 (19 May Online)

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