Past exam of the algebra 1 and differential equations 1 course of the University of Oxford / 2015 / 2 / c

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 $S,T$, obtained in part (b). Their joint eigenspacesgive a direct sum decomposition of $V$. The third map $U$ preserves each $W_{\lambda ,\mu }$, since $SUv=USv=\lambda Uv$ and $TUv=UTv=\mu Uv$. By the diagonalizable restriction lemma, $U{|}_{W_{\lambda ,\mu }}$ has a basis of eigenvectors there. Every such vector already has fixed eigenvalues for $S$ and $T$.

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.