Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2009/ib/paper-1/1g/2/solution

Choose and write using the direct sum of vector spaces . Neither component is zero: otherwise would lie in one of the zero intersections or . They are linearly independent, so is a two-dimensional vector subspace. Uniqueness of the direct-sum decomposition gives and . Also , but cannot be contained in because . Hence is one-dimensional. This constructs the required common plane for three pairwise complementary subspaces.

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