Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2025 / ib / Paper 2 / 8F / Solution

A Jordan block is $J_m(\alpha )=\alpha I+N$, where $N$ has ones on the superdiagonal and zeros elsewhere. Since $N^2=0$ for $m=2$, Taylor expansion givesThe Jordan normal form is the block-diagonal matrix, unique up to block order, to which $A$ is similar and whose blocks are Jordan blocks.

A block of size at least two for eigenvalue $\lambda$ contributes a generalized eigenvector in $\ker (A-\lambda I{)}^2\setminus \ker (A-\lambda I)$. Thus the displayed equality for every $\lambda$ is equivalent to every block having size one, which is diagonalizability.

The transpose of each Jordan block is similar to it by reversing its basis. Hence $A^T$ has the same Jordan form as $A$.

Write $A=PJ{P}^{-1}$. Let $R$ be block diagonal with the reversal matrix on each Jordan block. Both $R$ and $RJ$ are symmetric and $R$ is invertible. Thereforewhere $C,D$ are symmetric and $C$ is nonsingular.

Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.