Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/ib/paper-2/1f/solution

Use completing the square rather than computing the eigenvalues of the symmetric matrix. Successively removing the mixed terms gives
Thus one suitable invertible linear change of coordinates is
The coordinate matrix is upper triangular with determinant one, so the change is an invertible linear map. Its inverse is , , . Hence the diagonal coefficients can be taken as . This is a matrix congruence of a quadratic form; an orthogonal transformation was not required.

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