Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2022 / Paper 1 / 5 / a

A square matrix is a diagonalizable matrix over the chosen field when there are an invertible matrix $P$ and a diagonal matrix $D$ such that $A=PD{P}^{-1}$. If $v_j$ is column $j$ of $P$ and $D_{jj}={\lambda }_j$, the identity $AP=PD$ gives $A{v}_j={\lambda }_j{v}_j$. Invertibility makes these $n$ columns linearly independent eigenvectors.

Conversely, put $n$ linearly independent eigenvectors in the columns of $P$ and their eigenvalues in $D$. Then $P$ is invertible and $AP=PD$, givingRepeated eigenvalues are allowed; the requirement is a complete eigenbasis, not distinctness of the eigenvalues.