Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2006/ia/paper-3/1d/i/solution

True. All three eigenvalues are distinct in , so their nonzero eigenvectors are linearly independent. Here is a direct proof of that assertion. If , apply to obtain
Distinctness makes both scalar factors nonzero, hence . Applying the analogous products gives . The three eigenvectors therefore form a basis of . Taking them as the columns of gives
This proves that every such matrix is a diagonalizable matrix over , rather than merely showing it for the example.

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