Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2023/prelims/mathematics-i/4/a/ii/solution

Let be a skew-symmetric matrix. For every real vector , the real scalar equals its own transpose, but
Hence . If is a real eigenvector equation with , it follows that
so . If is a diagonalisable matrix over , it has a real basis of eigenvectors, all with eigenvalue zero. Thus vanishes on a basis and .
The field matters: a nonzero real skew-symmetric matrix can be a diagonalisable matrix over the complex numbers, for example with eigenvalues .

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