Past exam of the rings and modules course of the University of Oxford 2023 3 a ii Solution 2026-10-25
The nonconstant invariant factors of a linear operator satisfy . By part (a)(i), is an irreducible polynomial, so every must equal . Their polynomial degrees sum to , giving .
The companion matrix of , in the basis of , isTherefore, for each fixed even , every such has rational canonical formThere are no such matrices when is odd. This is an instance of the rational canonical form with irreducible minimal polynomial principle; equality of minimal polynomials alone does not determine rational canonical form in general.