Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2012 / Paper 2 / 11 / b / Solution

A vector perpendicular to ${\mathbf{e}}_1$ has the form $\mathbf{v}=(s,t,-s)$. Direct matrix multiplication givesThus every nonzero such vector is an eigenvector with $\boxed{\lambda =-2}$. The zero vector must be excluded from the literal claim about “any” perpendicular vector, since an eigenvector is nonzero. The eigenspace is two-dimensional. Equivalently, $A=-2I+6{\mathbf{e}}_1{\mathbf{e}}_1^{\mathsf{T}}$ exhibits the spectrum of a scalar matrix plus a rank-one projector.