Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2025/iii/paper-209/4/a/solution

Root the graph at and let be the transition matrix of simple random walk killed on hitting , indexed by the remaining vertices. Its Green matrix is . Successively eliminating vertices in an order takes Schur complements; the corresponding diagonal pivot at step is exactly . The product of the pivots is therefore
which is invariant under the elimination order.

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