An analytical proof of Ogawa's determinantal theorem (Q662373)

The main purpose of this short paper is to provide an elementary proof of the following determinantal theorem due to Ogawa. Assume that \(A\) and \(B\) are two real symmetric \((p\times p)\) matrices. Then the following assertions are equivalent: (a) \(\operatorname{det}(I_p+xA+yB)=\operatorname{det}(I_p+xA)\operatorname{det}(I_p+yB)\) for all real numbers \(x\) and \(y\). (b) \(\operatorname{det}(I_p+xA+xB)=\operatorname{det}(I_p+xA)\operatorname{det}(I_p+xB)\) for all real numbers \(x\). (c) \(AB=0\). The proof is based on simple tools of elementary differential calculus.