Past exam of the algebra, analysis and differential equations II course of the University of Oxford / 2011 / Algebra / 1 / b

To prove the sum is direct, suppose ${\sum }_{j=1}^r{v}_j=0$ with $v_j\in V_{{\lambda }_j}$. Fix $i$ and apply the polynomial in the linear operatorEvery $v_j$ with $j\ne i$ is killed by one factor. On $v_i$, each factor is multiplication by ${\lambda }_i-{\lambda }_j$, givingThe scalar coefficient is nonzero because the eigenvalues are distinct. Thus $v_i=0$ for every $i$, provingIn particular, choosing a basis in each eigenspace yields a linearly independent combined list.

If ${\chi }_T(\lambda )=0$, then $\det (\lambda I-A)=0$, so $\lambda I-A$ is singular. By the rank-nullity theorem it has a nonzero kernel vector $v$. ThusThis is exactly the definition of an eigenvalue. Here $\lambda$ lies in the scalar field: for the stated real vector space it is real. A nonreal root instead gives an eigenvalue of the complexified operator, by the same argument over $\mathbb{C}$.