Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2021 / Paper 2 / 1

The two orthogonal directions $(1,1{)}^T$ and $(1,-1{)}^T$ are preserved by this symmetric matrix. Direct multiplication, using the hyperbolic function identities $\cosh u\pm \sinh u=e^{\pm u}$, gives the eigenvalue–eigenvector pairsEach eigenvector can be multiplied by any nonzero scalar. For $u\ne 0$ these give the two one-dimensional eigenspaces. When $u=0$, the matrix is the identity: the only eigenvalue is $1$, with multiplicity two, and every nonzero vector is an eigenvector.