Calculate the determinant of $A-5I$ Question
Let $ A = 
\begin{bmatrix}
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 \\
6 & 7 & 8 & 9 & 10 \\
11 & 12 & 13 & 14 & 15 \\
16 & 17 & 18 & 19 & 20 \\
21& 22 & 23 & 24 & 25
\end{bmatrix}
$.
Calculate the determinant of $A-5I$.
My approach
the nullity of $A$ is $3$, so the algebraic multiplicity of $\lambda = 0$ is $3$, i.e. $\lambda_1 = \lambda_2 = \lambda_3 = 0.$
Now trace($A$) = $\lambda_4 + \lambda_5 = 1+6+13+19+25 = 65$
Then det($A-5I$) = $(\lambda_1-5)(\lambda_2-5)(\lambda_3-5)(\lambda_4-5)(\lambda_5-5)=(-5)^3(\lambda_4\lambda_5 - 5 \times 65 + 25)$
We need to calculate the value of $\lambda_4 \lambda_5$, which includes sum of lots of determinant of $2 \times 2$ matrices.
Is there any fast way to calculate the determinant?

Let the standard basis of $\mathbb R^5$ be denoted $\{e_1,e_2,\dotsc,e_5\}$. Let $\vec l$ denote the leftmost column of $A$, and let $\vec 1$ be the column vector of all $1$s. We have that for all $i \in \{1,\dotsc,5\}$: $$\begin{align}&Ae_i = \vec l+(i-1)\vec1 \\&\vec l = \sum_{i=1}^5 ie_i \\&\vec 1 = \sum_{i=1}^5 e_i\end{align}$$
Since every vector in the image (or range, if you call it that) of $A$ is a linear combination of $\vec 1$ and $\vec l$, it follows that the rank of $A$ is $2$. From which it follows that $3$ of $A$'s eigenvalues are $0$.
We now proceed to find the remaining eigenvalues. We focus on the subspace of $\mathbb R^5$ spanned by $\vec 1$ and $\vec l$. We see that $$A \vec 1 = 10\vec 1 + 5\vec l \\ A \vec l= 160\vec 1 + 55\vec l$$
Restrict $A$ to the subspace $\operatorname{span}\{\vec 1, \vec l\}$, and change to the basis $\{\vec 1, \vec l \}$. You get:$$B=\begin{bmatrix}10 & 160 \\ 5 & 55 \end{bmatrix}$$
Any eigenvalue of $B$ is an eigenvalue of $A$. The eigenvalues of $B$ are $λ_{12} = \frac52 (13 \pm \sqrt{209})
$.
We've now found all of $A$'s eigenvalues.
Finally, the determinant of $A$ is $\prod_{i=1}^5(\lambda_i - 5) = \frac52(11 + \sqrt{209})\frac52(11 - \sqrt{209})(-5)(-5)(-5)=68750$.
