Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-algebra-analysis-and-differential-equations-1-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2004/algebra/1/solution

. For arbitrary matrices,
This is bilinear and symmetric. Also , with equality exactly when every entry vanishes. Thus it is an inner product, the Frobenius inner product.
If and , invariance of trace under transposition and cyclicity give
Furthermore , so every traceless matrix is orthogonal to the identity. One convenient orthonormal basis adapted to these observations is
Their entrywise inner products are zero in distinct pairs and one on the diagonal; four orthonormal vectors in this four-dimensional space form a basis.

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