A fooling-set matrix is a square matrix with nonzero diagonal, but at least one in every pair of diagonally opposite entries is 0. Dietzfelbinger et al. ’96 proved that the rank of such a matrix is at least
, for a matrix of order n. It is known that the bound is tight (up to a multiplicative constant). We ask for the typical minimum rank of a fooling-set matrix: For a fooling-set
... [Show full abstract] zero-nonzero pattern chosen at random, is the minimum rank of a matrix with that zero-nonzero pattern over a field closer to its lower bound or to its upper bound n? We study random patterns with a given density p, and prove an bound for the cases when(a)p tends to 0 quickly enough; (b)p tends to 0 slowly, and ; (c) is a constant. We have to leave open the case when slowly and is a large or infinite field (e.g., , ).