Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2019/paper-1/6/c/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2019 Paper 1 6 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
The second coordinate direction is already an eigenvector with eigenvalue three. The first and third coordinates form a symmetric block, whose sum and difference directions giveFor example, the sum of the block's diagonal and off-diagonal entries is , while their difference is . Equivalently the characteristic polynomial is .
The displayed basis works for every real . At , the eigenvalue three has eigenspace spanned by the second and third listed vectors; at , the eigenvalue six has eigenspace spanned by the first and third. Every nonzero vector in a repeated eigenspace is an eigenvector, and any orthonormal basis of it may replace the displayed choices.
New to topics? Read the docs here!