Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-probability-statistics-and-options-i-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2008/p/1/solution

Use Gaussian elimination with partial pivoting, choosing the largest absolute available entry in the current pivot column. The first pivot is 2, with multipliers . After eliminating that column, the augmented system is
The second pivot is , already largest in its remaining column. Its multipliers are zero and , giving row four . In column three, partial pivoting now requires exchanging rows three and four, since . The final elimination multiplier is . Thus
Back substitution gives .
The permutation and recorded multipliers, with the earlier multiplier rows swapped at the third pivot, are
Direct multiplication verifies . Since is invertible and ,
The two matrices are similar, and similar matrices have the same characteristic polynomial and eigenvalues.

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