Past exam of the algebra 1 and differential equations 1 course of the University of Oxford 2015 2 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Yes, provided “commute” means pairwise commute. Necessity follows because three diagonal matrices commute pairwise.
For sufficiency, first choose the common eigenbasis for the first two linear maps, say , obtained in part (b). Their joint eigenspacesgive a direct sum decomposition of . The third map preserves each , since and . By the diagonalizable restriction lemma, has a basis of eigenvectors there. Every such vector already has fixed eigenvalues for and .
Joining these bases therefore gives a common eigenbasis for all three maps. The same induction proves simultaneous diagonalization for any finite pairwise commuting family of diagonalizable linear endomorphisms.
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