Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2008/paper-2/16/b/i/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2008 Paper 2 16 b i Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
With , the characteristic polynomial factors into , up to the overall sign convention. The eigenvalues are and . Integer values require an odd integer satisfying . The positive integer factorization forces andThe resulting eigenvalues and corresponding nonzero eigenvectors areAny nonzero scalar multiple is equally valid. The factorization also shows that no other positive integer works.
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