Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2003 / Paper 2 / 3 / b / Solution

The characteristic polynomial is $(5-\lambda )(2-\lambda )-4={\lambda }^2-7\lambda +6=(\lambda -1)(\lambda -6)$. For $\lambda =1$, the eigenvector equation gives $y=2x$; for $\lambda =6$, it gives $x=-2y$. The normalized eigenvectors can therefore be chosen asBoth have unit Euclidean norm, and their dot product is $(-2+2)/5=0$, explicitly verifying orthogonality. This also follows from the spectral theorem for a real symmetric matrix with distinct eigenvalues.