Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2008/ib/paper-1/1e/iv/solution

False in general. Take and . Both have trace and determinant , but their eigenvalue multisets are different. For , append equal identity blocks to preserve this counterexample. In dimensions one and two the assertion is true: in dimension two the characteristic polynomial is , whose roots, with multiplicity, are determined by those two quantities.

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