Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2014 / ia / Paper 1 / 8C / i / Solution

Expanding the commutator immediately gives $[A,A]=0$, $[A,B]=-[B,A]$, and $[A,\lambda B]=\lambda [A,B]$. For its matrix trace, writeConsequently every matrix commutator is traceless: $\boxed{\mathrm{tr}[A,B]=0}$. This is the trace of a matrix commutator identity, valid for arbitrary square matrices over the complex numbers.