Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2007/iii/paper-7/3/i/solution

A nonidentity transvection is a linear automorphism with and . Equivalently, it fixes a hyperplane pointwise and its displacement has image in a line lying in that hyperplane. The notation allows the identity as a degenerate transvection; use that convention here, with also allowed.
For a nonidentity transvection, choose spanning the image of . There is a unique nonzero linear functional such that . Since , we have , so . Conversely, this condition makes and gives inverse . The identity is represented by and any . Thus
When , the two displacement maps have zero product, giving
For clarity use left actions of linear maps. Applying , then , then gives
With the alternative conjugation notation , the answer is . In either convention the transformed direction lies in the kernel of the transformed functional.

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