On symmetric matrices with indeterminate leading diagonals (Q1049391)

Let \(q(x)=x^{t}Ax\), \(x\in \mathbb R^n\), be a quadratic form where \(x^{t}\) is the transposition of \(x\), \(n\geq3\) an integer and \(A\) a symmetric real \(n\times n\) matrix. A quadric is a pair \(Q=\langle A,c\rangle\) of the affine variety defined by the equation \(q(x)=c\), where \(c\) is a real number. Let \(\mathbb U\) be the \(n\)-cube whose vertices have coordinates \(\pm1\). Let \(M_{Q}\) denote the intersection of \(Q\) and \(\mathbb U\). The variable \(D\) denotes a diagonal matrix with arbitrary real numbers on the main diagonal. Let \(G(A)\) denote the undirected loop-free graph with multiple edges and with \(n\) vertices where the \(i\)th vertex is connected by an edge with \(j\)th vertex whenever the entry \(a_{ij}\) of \(A\) is not zero. The authors present some partial answers to the following problems with elementary proofs. {\parindent6mm \begin{itemize}\item[1.] Find a maximum (or minimum) point of quadratic form \(q(x)\) under the constraint \(x\in\mathbb U\) by means of replacing \(A\) with a ``simpler'' matrix \(B\) with the same maximum (minimum) point. \item[2.] Derive properties of the graph \(G(A)\) from properties of the set \(M_{Q}\). \item[3.] Describe the semilattice consisting of all sets of the form \(M_{Q}\) except for \(\mathbb U\) with the set-theoretic inclusion relation \(\subseteq\). \item[4.] Describe the quotient set consisting of equivalence classes of all quadrics with the following equivalence relation: \(Q\sim Q'\text{ if }M_{Q}=M_{Q'}\). \end{itemize}} The paper contains some interesting examples.