Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 April 2002
The complexity of computing, via threshold circuits, the iterated product and powering of fixed-dimension $k\times k$ matrices with integer or rational entries is studied. We call these two problems $\sf IMP_k$ and $\sf MPOW_k$, respectively, for short. We prove that: (i) For $k\geq2$, $\sf IMP_k$ does not belong to ${\rm TC}^0$, unless ${\rm TC}^0={\rm NC}^1$.newline (ii) For stochastic matrices : $\sf IMP_2$ belongs to ${\rm TC}^0$ while, for $k\geq3$, $\sf IMP_k$ does not belong to ${\rm TC}^0$, unless ${\rm TC}^0={\rm NC}^1$. (iii) For any k, $\sf MPOW_k$ belongs to ${\rm TC}^0$.