Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/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 2021 Paper 1 5 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
The direction is fixed, giving the eigenvalue one. The planar block has characteristic polynomialThus the full list of eigenvalues isThe last two are real precisely when , so all three are real exactly for . At even multiples of the matrix is the identity and every vector is fixed. At odd multiples it is a half-turn: the axial eigenvalue remains , while the whole perpendicular plane has eigenvalue .
For other angles, the only real eigenvector direction is the rotation axis; the perpendicular plane is rotated rather than preserving an individual real direction. Its complex eigenvectors can be taken as and for and , respectively. These represent the two complex conjugate planar eigenvalues.
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