Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/paper-1/18/b/i/solution

The characteristic polynomial of is
Its distinct eigenvalues are and . For , the eigenvector relation gives , so choose . For , it gives , so choose . Put these independent eigenvectors into columns:
Then column by column. Also , so this choice supplies the diagonalization of a matrix . Scaling columns or interchanging their order gives other valid choices, with the matching order in .

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