Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Oxford / 2023 / Prelims / Mathematics I / 4 / c / i

Write $r=(r_1,\dots ,r_n{)}^T$. The linear map represented by $A$ has the formThe image of a linear map here is contained in the one-dimensional linear span of $e_i$, so its matrix rank is at most one. The rank-nullity theorem yieldsThus the solution space of $Ax=0$, namely the zero eigenspace when zero is an eigenvalue, contains at least $n-1$ linearly independent vectors. If $r=0$ its dimension is $n$; otherwise it is $n-1$. When $n=1$ the asserted lower bound is zero, even if zero is not an eigenvalue.