Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-algebra-1-and-differential-equations-1-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/2/c/solution

Yes, provided “commute” means pairwise commute. Necessity follows because three diagonal matrices commute pairwise.
For sufficiency, first choose the common eigenbasis for the first two linear maps, say , obtained in part (b). Their joint eigenspaces
give a direct sum decomposition of . The third map preserves each , since and . By the diagonalizable restriction lemma, has a basis of eigenvectors there. Every such vector already has fixed eigenvalues for and .
Joining these bases therefore gives a common eigenbasis for all three maps. The same induction proves simultaneous diagonalization for any finite pairwise commuting family of diagonalizable linear endomorphisms.

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