Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2020/ib/paper-1/1f/solution

Two square matrices are similar when for some invertible matrix . A Jordan normal form is a block-diagonal matrix whose blocks have one eigenvalue on the diagonal, ones on the superdiagonal, and zeros elsewhere; over an algebraically closed field every matrix is similar to such a form, unique up to reordering its Jordan blocks.
Both displayed matrices have characteristic polynomial
However,
so their eigenspace dimensions are respectively two and one. Thus has Jordan form , whereas has Jordan form . By uniqueness of Jordan normal form,

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