# Tagged: eigenvalue

## Problem 533

Consider the complex matrix
$A=\begin{bmatrix} \sqrt{2}\cos x & i \sin x & 0 \\ i \sin x &0 &-i \sin x \\ 0 & -i \sin x & -\sqrt{2} \cos x \end{bmatrix},$ where $x$ is a real number between $0$ and $2\pi$.

Determine for which values of $x$ the matrix $A$ is diagonalizable.
When $A$ is diagonalizable, find a diagonal matrix $D$ so that $P^{-1}AP=D$ for some nonsingular matrix $P$.

## Problem 527

A square matrix $A$ is called idempotent if $A^2=A$.

(a) Let $\mathbf{u}$ be a vector in $\R^n$ with length $1$.
Define the matrix $P$ to be $P=\mathbf{u}\mathbf{u}^{\trans}$.

Prove that $P$ is an idempotent matrix.

(b) Suppose that $\mathbf{u}$ and $\mathbf{v}$ be unit vectors in $\R^n$ such that $\mathbf{u}$ and $\mathbf{v}$ are orthogonal.
Let $Q=\mathbf{u}\mathbf{u}^{\trans}+\mathbf{v}\mathbf{v}^{\trans}$.

Prove that $Q$ is an idempotent matrix.

(c) Prove that each nonzero vector of the form $a\mathbf{u}+b\mathbf{v}$ for some $a, b\in \R$ is an eigenvector corresponding to the eigenvalue $1$ for the matrix $Q$ in part (b).

## Top 10 Popular Math Problems in 2016-2017

It’s been a year since I started this math blog!!

More than 500 problems were posted during a year (July 19th 2016-July 19th 2017).

I made a list of the 10 math problems on this blog that have the most views.

Can you solve all of them?

The level of difficulty among the top 10 problems.
【★★★】 Difficult (Final Exam Level)
【★★☆】 Standard(Midterm Exam Level)
【★☆☆】 Easy (Homework Level)

## Problem 513

Let $A$ be a square matrix. A matrix $B$ satisfying $B^2=A$ is call a square root of $A$.

Find all the square roots of the matrix
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 2 & 2\\ 2& 2 \end{bmatrix}.$

## Problem 508

Let $A$ be a square matrix.
Prove that the eigenvalues of the transpose $A^{\trans}$ are the same as the eigenvalues of $A$.

## Problem 504

Prove that if $A$ is a diagonalizable nilpotent matrix, then $A$ is the zero matrix $O$.

## Problem 485

Let
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 1 & -14 & 4 \\ -1 &6 &-2 \\ -2 & 24 & -7 \end{bmatrix} \quad \text{ and }\quad \mathbf{v}=\begin{bmatrix} 4 \\ -1 \\ -7 \end{bmatrix}.$ Find $A^{10}\mathbf{v}$.

You may use the following information without proving it.
The eigenvalues of $A$ are $-1, 0, 1$. The eigenspaces are given by
$E_{-1}=\Span\left\{\, \begin{bmatrix} 3 \\ -1 \\ -5 \end{bmatrix} \,\right\}, \quad E_{0}=\Span\left\{\, \begin{bmatrix} -2 \\ 1 \\ 4 \end{bmatrix} \,\right\}, \quad E_{1}=\Span\left\{\, \begin{bmatrix} -4 \\ 2 \\ 7 \end{bmatrix} \,\right\}.$

(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)

## Problem 483

Diagonalize the matrix
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 1 & 1 \\ 1 &1 &1 \\ 1 & 1 & 1 \end{bmatrix}.$ Namely, find a nonsingular matrix $S$ and a diagonal matrix $D$ such that $S^{-1}AS=D$.

(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)

## Problem 482

For which values of constants $a, b$ and $c$ is the matrix
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 7 & a & b \\ 0 &2 &c \\ 0 & 0 & 3 \end{bmatrix}.$ diagonalizable?

(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)

## Problem 477

Determine whether the matrix
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 4\\ 2 & 3 \end{bmatrix}$ is diagonalizable.

If so, find a nonsingular matrix $S$ and a diagonal matrix $D$ such that $S^{-1}AS=D$.

(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)

## Problem 476

Let
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 2 & 1 \\ -1 &4 &1 \\ 2 & -4 & 0 \end{bmatrix}.$ The matrix $A$ has an eigenvalue $2$.
Find a basis of the eigenspace $E_2$ corresponding to the eigenvalue $2$.

(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)

## Problem 475

Find all the eigenvalues of the matrix
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 &0 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\ 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \end{bmatrix}.$

(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)

## Problem 473

Prove that the determinant of an $n\times n$ skew-symmetric matrix is zero if $n$ is odd.

## Problem 472

Let $T:\R^2 \to \R^2$ be a linear transformation and let $A$ be the matrix representation of $T$ with respect to the standard basis of $\R^2$.

Prove that the following two statements are equivalent.

(a) There are exactly two distinct lines $L_1, L_2$ in $\R^2$ passing through the origin that are mapped onto themselves:
$T(L_1)=L_1 \text{ and } T(L_2)=L_2.$

(b) The matrix $A$ has two distinct nonzero real eigenvalues.

## Problem 471

Let $A$ be a $3\times 3$ real orthogonal matrix with $\det(A)=1$.

(a) If $\frac{-1+\sqrt{3}i}{2}$ is one of the eigenvalues of $A$, then find the all the eigenvalues of $A$.

(b) Let
$A^{100}=aA^2+bA+cI,$ where $I$ is the $3\times 3$ identity matrix.
Using the Cayley-Hamilton theorem, determine $a, b, c$.

(Kyushu University, Linear Algebra Exam Problem)

## Problem 468

Let $A$ be an $n\times n$ real skew-symmetric matrix.

(a) Prove that the matrices $I-A$ and $I+A$ are nonsingular.

(b) Prove that
$B=(I-A)(I+A)^{-1}$ is an orthogonal matrix.

## Problem 466

Let
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 2\\ 4& 3 \end{bmatrix}.$

(a) Find eigenvalues of the matrix $A$.

(b) Find eigenvectors for each eigenvalue of $A$.

(c) Diagonalize the matrix $A$. That is, find an invertible matrix $S$ and a diagonal matrix $D$ such that $S^{-1}AS=D$.

(d) Diagonalize the matrix $A^3-5A^2+3A+I$, where $I$ is the $2\times 2$ identity matrix.

(e) Calculate $A^{100}$. (You do not have to compute $5^{100}$.)

(f) Calculate
$(A^3-5A^2+3A+I)^{100}.$ Let $w=2^{100}$. Express the solution in terms of $w$.

## Problem 459

Let
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 1-a & a\\ -a& 1+a \end{bmatrix}$ be a $2\times 2$ matrix, where $a$ is a complex number.
Determine the values of $a$ such that the matrix $A$ is diagonalizable.

(Nagoya University, Linear Algebra Exam Problem)

## Problem 456

Determine whether the matrix
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 0 & 1 & 0 \\ -1 &0 &0 \\ 0 & 0 & 2 \end{bmatrix}$ is diagonalizable.

If it is diagonalizable, then find the invertible matrix $S$ and a diagonal matrix $D$ such that $S^{-1}AS=D$.

## Problem 451

Let $A$ be an $n\times n$ real symmetric matrix.
Prove that there exists an eigenvalue $\lambda$ of $A$ such that for any vector $\mathbf{v}\in \R^n$, we have the inequality
$\mathbf{v}\cdot A\mathbf{v} \leq \lambda \|\mathbf{v}\|^2.$