Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2019/paper-1/5/b/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2019 Paper 1 5 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
An invertible matrix is a square matrix for which there is a matrix with . Write its assumed diagonalization as , where is invertible and . ThenIf the determinant is nonzero, every is nonzero, so exists and . If the determinant is zero, at least one eigenvalue is zero; its nonzero eigenvector is mapped to zero, which an invertible map cannot do. HenceThe equivalence holds even without diagonalizability, but the eigenbasis proves the stated case directly.
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