The minimum upper bound on the first ambiguous power of an irreducible, nonpowerful ray or sign pattern (Q551265)

Let \(A\) be an \(n\times n\) irreducible ray or sign pattern matrix. The authors show that if \(A\) is an \(n\times n\) irreducible sign pattern which is not powerful, then \(A^k\) contains an ambiguous entry for some positive integer \(k\) with \(k\leq n^2-2n+2\). Furthermore, it is also shown that there is an \(n\times n\) sign pattern associated with the Wielandt graph, for which the first ambiguous power is in fact \(n^2-2n + 2\). In the case that \(A\) is a ray pattern, certain cases in which the analogous results hold are determined.