Let $${A_1},\,{A_2},\,{A_3}$$ and $${A_4}$$ be four matrices of dimensions $$10 \times 5,\,5 \times 20,\,20 \times 10,$$ and $$10 \times 5,$$ respectively. The minimum number of scalar multiplications required to find the product $${A_1}{A_2}{A_3}{A_4}$$ using the basic matrix multiplication method is _________.

Let $${a_n}$$ represent the number of bit strings of length n containing two consecutive 1s. What is the recurrence relation for $${a_n}$$?

$$\sum\limits_{x = 1}^{99} {{1 \over {x\left( {x + 1} \right)}}} $$ = _____________.

Consider the following $$2 \times 2$$ matrix $$A$$ where two elements are unknown and are marked by $$a$$ and $$b.$$ The eigenvalues of this matrix ar $$-1$$ and $$7.$$ What are the values of $$a$$ and $$b$$?
$$A = \left( {\matrix{ 1 & 4 \cr b & a \cr } } \right)$$