Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-algebra-analysis-and-differential-equations-2-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2008-printed-variant/1/ii/solution
Past exam of the algebra, analysis and differential equations II course of the University of Oxford 2008 printed variant 1 ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Write . Cayley-Hamilton theorem gives . Its minimal polynomial is therefore for exactly one , so the possibilities for that of areLet , which is the dimension of the only eigenspace. If , then and .
If , rank-nullity theorem gives . The restriction of the nilpotent map to this invariant line is zero, so . Choose with , and choose independent of . Then , so these three vectors form a basis; its matrix for is the printed .
If , then has dimension two, so cannot vanish: otherwise . Choose with and set , . Applying and then to a putative linear relation proves these three vectors independent. The matrix is the printed .
These cases exhaust the possible eigenspace dimensions. They are pairwise dissimilar because similarity preserves the eigenspace dimension, equivalently the three different minimal polynomials. Hence every matrix is similar to exactly one of the three displayed forms.
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