Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2002/ib/paper-2/15g/b/solution

Choose an invertible change-of-basis matrix so that is the Jordan normal form of . Write each block as
where has ones on its first superdiagonal and all other entries zero. Define
Every because is invertible, so is an invertible diagonal matrix. The matrix is strictly upper triangular and hence nilpotent. On each block is a scalar multiple of the identity, so it commutes with on that block and therefore on the whole space. This gives

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