# Determinant of a real skew-symmetric matrix is square of an integer

Let $A$ be a real skew-symmetric matrix with integer entries. Show that $\operatorname{det}{A}$ is square of an integer.

Here is my idea: If $A$ is skew-symmetric matrix of odd order, then $\operatorname{det}{A}$ is zero. So, take $A$ to be of even order and non-singular. Since all the eigenvalues of $A$ are of the form $ia$ and its conjugate (where $a$ is real number), we see that $\operatorname{det}{A}$ is square of a real number. But I am not getting how to show it is square of an integer.

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfaffian Jul 2 '12 at 18:03
• I deleted my answer since it doesn't make sense. Thanks to @JasonDeVito.
– user2468
Jul 2 '12 at 18:29
• Sorry,I need more explanation.I did not get the idea.
– user51266
Jul 2 '12 at 18:55
• The Pfaffian is a polynomial function of the matrix entries
For a skew symmetric $A$, $\det(A)={\rm pfaffian}(A)^2$ where pfaffian is an integral polynomial function of the entries of the matrix $A$. For the case of an integer matrix the pfaffian is therefore an integer. Hence the result you want.