Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Oxford / 2023 / Prelims / Mathematics I / 3 / a / iii

A scalar $\lambda$ is an eigenvalue of $A$ if and only if there is a nonzero vector $v$ with $Av=\lambda v$. By the preceding kernel criterion,The last condition is ${\chi }_A(\lambda )=0$, exactly the definition of a polynomial root. For a real matrix, this proves the assertion for real eigenvalues; the same proof over the complex numbers gives the usual complex version.