N-matrices (Q5925248)

There are many nice characterization results available for P-matrices which are real \(n\times n\) matrices whose principal minors are positive. Similar to a P-matrix, an N-matrix is a matrix with real entries whose principal minors are negative. In the paper, a characterization of an N- matrix is proposed, which is geometric in nature and similar in spirit to that of the sign-reversal property of a P-matrix. As an application, another characterization is obtained by using the linear complementarity problem, which is an analogue of a result connecting a P-matrix and the linear complementarity problem.