Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/ia/paper-1/8a/a/v/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ia Paper 1 8A a v Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Start with the assumed basis of eigenvectors, grouping them by eigenvalue. In each eigenspace, apply the Gram-Schmidt process, which replaces a linearly independent list by an orthonormal list with the same span. Every new vector stays within that eigenspace, since an eigenspace is a vector subspace.
By part (iv), different eigenspaces are orthogonal. The combined lists therefore form an orthonormal basis of the entire space, still consisting of eigenvectors. Let have these vectors as columns. Then is a unitary matrix, soThis gives the required unitary diagonalization of a normal matrix, including repeated eigenvalues.
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