MA251 ALGEBRA I: PROBLEM SHEET 2 SOLUTIONS

DAVID LOEFFLER
The total marks available for this sheet are 20, plus 5 additional marks for clarity at the discretion
of the marker.
Exercise 1. For each of the following matrices A over C, calculate the characteristic polynomial and minimal
polynomial, and hence nd matrices P, J such that J = P
1
AP and J is in Jordan canonical form.
(i)

6 1
9 0

(ii)

1 0 0
6 2 0
7 1 2

(iii)

0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0
0 0 0 1
1 0 2 0

(iv)

1 1 3 7
2 0 3 9
2 1 4 8
0 0 0 1

(12 marks)
Solution. Markers should note that there are not unique correct answers.
A
and c
A
are
uniquely determined, and J is unique up to re-ordering the blocks, but there are loads of possibili-
ties for P.
(i) The characteristic polynomial is x
2
+ 6x + 9 = (x + 3)
2
so the only eigenvalue is 3. Since
A is not a scalar multiple of I
2
, its JCF has 1 block of size 2, i.e. we have J =

3 1
0 3

; and its
minimal polynomial is equal to its characteristic polynomial.
So a Jordan basis for A will consist of a single chain of length 2. As usual, we nd the chain
backwards: we start by choosing v
2
to be any vector in the index 2 generalized eigenspace, but
not in the eigenspace itself i.e. any vector which is not a scalar multiple of

1
3

. For instance,
v
2
=

1
0

will do. Then we are forced to take v

1
= (A + I
3
)v
2
=

3
9

, and we have J = P
1
AP
where P =

3 1
9 0

.
(ii) Here the characteristic polynomial is obviously (1 x)(2 x)
2
= (x 2)
2
(x + 1). More-
over, it is easy to see that the eigenspace for eigenvalue 2 is 1-dimensional, so the Jordan canonical
form must be J
2,2
J
1,1
=

2 1 0
0 2 0
0 0 1

.
This will correspond to a Jordan basis v
1
, v
2
, v
3
where v
1
, v
2
is a Jordan chain of length 2 for
eigenvalue 2 and v
3
is a Jordan chain of length 1 for eigenvalue 1. We nd the chain v
1
, v
2
Date: Autumn Term, 2011-12.
1
2 DAVID LOEFFLER
backwards, again: we want v
2
to be in ker

(A 2I
3
)
2

but not in ker(A 2I

3
). We know that
ker(A 2I
3
) is the span of

0
0
1

. We calculate that
(A 2I
3
)
2
=

9 0 0
18 0 0
27 0 0

so we can take v
2
=

0
1
0

, which forces us to take v

1
=

0
0
1

. The other, length-1 Jordan chain

will consist of an eigenvector for eigenvalue 1, and we quickly nd that such an eigenvector is
v
3
=

1
2
3

. So we can take
P =

0 0 1
0 1 2
1 0 3

.
(iii) Here we nd that c
A
(x) = x
4
+ 2x
2
+ 1 = (x i)
2
(x + i)
2
where i =

1. By doing
elementary row operations on A iI
4
, or any other appropriate method, we nd that ker(A iI
4
)
is 1-dimensional and spanned by

1
i
1
i

.
So there must be a single degree-2 Jordan block for eigenvalue i. Therefore, we calculate
(A iI)
2
=

1 2i 1 0
0 1 2i 1
1 0 3 2i
2i 1 4i 3

This is a bit of a mess, but you can hold your nose and reduce it to row echelon form to see that
it has the same kernel as

1 0 3 2i
0 1 2i 1
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0

The vector

3
2i
1
0

is in the kernel of this, and hence in the kernel of A. So lets declare v

2
to be that
vector. We nd that (A iI)v
2
=

i
1
i
1

, so that will be our v

1
.
MA251 ALGEBRA I: PROBLEM SHEET 2 SOLUTIONS 3
Similarly, we can get a Jordan chain of length 2 for eigenvalue i by taking the complex conju-
gates of these vectors (since A has real entries). That is, we take v
3
=

i
1
i
1

and v
4
=

3
2i
1
0

.
Thus the Jordan form is J = P
1
AP where
J =

i 1 0 0
0 i 0 0
0 0 i 1
0 0 0 i

, P =

i 3 i 3
1 2i 1 2i
i 1 i 1
1 0 1 0

.
For part (iv), we nd that c
A
(x) = (1 x)
4
. Calculating powers of A I
4
, we nd that (A
I
4
)
2
= 0 but (A I
4
)
3
= 0. So
A
(x) = (x 1)
3
. So the Jordan form is
J = J
3,1
J
1,1
=

1 1 0 0
0 1 1 0
0 0 1 0
0 0 0 1

.
To nd the basis change matrix P to the Jordan basis, we note that the kernel of (A I
4
)
2
is
the span of the rst 3 basis vectors, so we pick v
3
=

0
0
0
1

and then v
2
= (A I
4
)v
3
=

7
9
8
0

,
v
1
= (A I
4
)v
2
=

1
1
1
0

. To complete the Jordan basis we just choose a second eigenvector

which is not a linear multiple of v
1
; one such is

3
0
2
0

and we conclude that

P =

1 7 0 3
1 9 0 0
1 8 0 2
0 0 1 0

works.
(3 marks each. 2 marks for correct JCF and min/char polys but wrong transformation matrix. Be
sympathetic with arithmetic errors, particularly in (iii) where sign errors are particularly easy.)
Exercise 2. Let A and B be 5 5 complex matrices with minimal polynomial
A
(x) =
B
(x) = x
4
. Must
A and B be similar? What if the minimal polynomial is x
3
? (2 marks)
Solution Let us consider the possible Jordan canonical forms. A 5 5 matrix in JCF with minimal
polynomial x
4
must have at least one Jordan block of size 4 and no larger blocks. Hence the only
possibilities are J
0,4
J
0,1
and J
0,1
J
0,4
; these are similar to each other. So any two matrices
satisfying these conditions are similar. So the answer is yes to the rst part of the question.
4 DAVID LOEFFLER
On the other hand, if the largest block has size exactly 3 then we could have J
0,3
J
0,2
or
J
0,3
J
0,1
J
0,1
and these are not similar to each other (since JCFs are unique up to the ordering of
the blocks). So the answer is no for the second part of the question.
Exercise 3. Recall that if A is any mn matrix, the transpose A
T
of A is the n m matrix whose (j, i)
entry is equal to the (i, j) entry of A. Use the Jordan canonical form to show that every square matrix over C
is similar to its transpose. (3 marks)
Solution Suppose A is similar to B. Then A
T
is similar to B
T
, since we have
B = P
1
AP B
T
= P
T
A
T
(P
1
)
T
= Q
1
A
T
Q
where Q = (P
T
)
1
= (P
1
)
T
. So it sufces to show that A is similar to A
T
if A is in Jordan
canonical form. Moreover, since (A B)
T
= A
T
B
T
, its enough to do this where A is a single
Jordan block.
But its clear that if J is a Jordan block, then J
T
= Q
1
JQ where Q =

1
.
.
.
1

.
(2 remarks for reducing to the case of a Jordan block, 1 mark for proving the statement in the
case of Jordan blocks. Note that it is not true that A
T
= Q
1
AQ for a general matrix A, and any
student falling into this trap should be invited to consider the matrix

1 1
0 0

.)
Exercise 4. Find the inverse of the Jordan block J
,3
, where = 0. Show that the Jordan canonical form of
J
,3
1
is J

1
,3
. (3 marks)
Solution One checks that
J
1
,3
=

3
0
1

2
0 0
1

.
This obviously has characteristic polynomial (x
1
)
3
. What about its minimal polynomial?
The trick here is to note that a vector v C
3
is an eigenvector for J = J
,3
if and only if its an
eigenvector for J
1
. Hence J
1
,3
has only one eigenvector for its unique eigenvalue
1
; in other
words, its JCF has only a single block, so it must be J

1
,3
. (The same argument shows that J
,k
1
is
similar to J

1
,k
for any k.)
(1 mark for calculating the entries of J
1
,3
. 2 for nding the correct JCF.)
Hints for optional exercises
Exercise 5. Let
1
, . . . ,
n
be any n distinct complex numbers. Show that for any C and any nonzero
t C, the n n matrix with (i, j) entry equal to

+ t
i
if j = i
1 if j = i + 1
0 otherwise
is diagonalizable.
Hence, or otherwise, show that if A is any square matrix over C, then for any > 0 there is a matrix A

such that A

is diagonalizable and every entry of A A

has absolute value < .

MA251 ALGEBRA I: PROBLEM SHEET 2 SOLUTIONS 5
Hint: Any upper-triangular matrix with distinct entries on the diagonal must be diagonalizable,
since its char poly has distinct roots.
To get the general statement, pick P such that J = P
1
AP is in Jordan form, so A = PJP
1
. As in
the rst part, x quantities
1
, . . . ,
n
which are all different, and let J
t
be the matrix obtained by
adding t
i
to the ith diagonal entry of J. Then J
t
will be diagonalizable for all but nitely many t,
and in particular for all sufciently small real t > 0. Hence for all sufciently small t, A
t
= PJ
t
P
1
is diagonalizable; and the entries of A
t
are obviously linear functions of t, so are continuous at
t = 0. Hence we may nd a diagonalizable matrix arbitrarily close to A by taking t very small.
Exercise 6. Let A and B be n n matrices with entries in R. Suppose that there is an n n invertible
matrix P with entries in C such that B = P
1
AP.
(i) Let P
1
and P
2
be the real and imaginary parts of P, so P
1
and P
2
have real entries and P
1
+ iP
2
= P.
Show that AP
1
= P
1
B and AP
2
= P
2
B.
(ii) Show that we may nd an invertible Q R
n,n
such that B = Q
1
AQ. (Hint: You may wish to
consider the polynomial p(y) = det(P
1
+ yP
2
).)
Hint: Part (i) should be clear. For part (ii), if either P
1
or P
2
is invertible were clearly nished. If
theyre not, but P
1
+ tP
2
is invertible for some t R, were also nished; so lets prove that theres
some t such that P
1
+ tP
2
is invertible. In other words, lets show that there is some t such that
p(t) = 0, where p(y) = det(P
1
+ yP
2
). Its clear that p(y) is a polynomial.
The only way such a t can fail to exist is if p is the zero polynomial. But we know that p(i) is a
nonzero complex number, since P
1
+ iP
2
is invertible, and that nishes the proof.
Exercise 7. Let A be a square matrix over a eld K, and dene the commutant of A, Comm(A), to be the
set
{B K
n,n
: AB = BA},
where n is the size of A. This is evidently a vector subspace of K
n,n
.
(i) Let J = J
,k
be a Jordan block. Show that dimComm(J) = k.
(ii) Hence show that if K = C, then dimComm(A) n for any n n matrix A.
(iii) Show that if A has n distinct eigenvalues, then dimComm(A) = n.
(iv) (Hard) Show that dimComm(A) = n if and only if
A
has degree n.
(No hint for this one if youre interested, then ask your supervisor or come to my ofce hour.)