2016-4 Distances in a tree

Let \(T\) be a tree on \(n\) vertices \(V=\{1,2,\ldots,n\}\). For two vertices \(i\) and \(j\), let \(d_{ij}\) be the distance between \(i\) and \(j\), that is the number of edges in the unique path from \(i\) to \(j\). Let \(D_T(x)=(x^{d_{ij}})_{i,j\in V}\) be the \(n\times n\) matrix. Prove that \[ \det (D_T(x))=(1-x^2)^{n-1}.\]

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2016-4 Distances in a tree, 4.4 out of 5 based on 11 ratings