MATH110 Homework 17 & 18

Taylor Tam

Outline
HW17

Section 5.4: Invariant Subspaces and the Cayley-Hamilton Theorem

Notes
Problems: #19
Challenge Problems: #25
Section 7.1: Jordan Canonical Form I
Notes
Problems: #1(a)(b)(c), 6, 7(a)(b)(c)(d)
Challenge Problems: #1(h)
HW18

Section 7.1: Jordan Canonical Form I

Notes
Problems: #1(f)(h), 2
Challenge Problems: #3(a)(b)

Section 5.4: Invariant Subspaces and the Cayley-Hamilton

Theorem
Problems
#19

Challenge Problems
#25

Section 7.1: Jordan Canonical Form I

Notes
Definition of a Jordan Block: A square matrix Ai such that A is an upper triangular with 1 and
0 in aij where j > i.
Definition of a Jordan Canonical Basis: The ordered basis for T inthe Jordan Form.
Generalized eigenvector of T : A nonzero vector x V such that (T I)p (x) = 0 for some
positive integer p.

Generalized Eigenspace of T : The gen. eigenspace of T corresponding ot i is denoted

K = {x V : (T I)p (x) = 0 for some positive integer p}

1
 Theorem 7.1: Let T be a linear operator on a vector space V , and let be an eigenvalue of T . Then
(a) K is a T -invariant subspace of V containing E (the eigenspace of T corresponding to ).
(b) For any scalar 6= , the restriction of T I to K is one-to-one.
Theorem 7.2: Let T be a linear operator on a finite-dimensional vector space such that the
characteristic polynomial of T splits. Then
(a) dim(K ) m. (b) K = N ((T I)m ).
Theorem 7.3: Let T be a linear operator on a finite-dimensional vector space such that
the characteristic polynomial of T splits, and let 1 , 2 , . . . , k be the distinct eigenvalues
of T . Then, for every x V , there exists vectors vi K , 1 i k such that
x = v1 + v2 + + vk

Theorem 7.4: Let T be a linear operator on a finite-dimensional vector space V such that the
characterisitic polynomial of T splits, and let 1 , 2 , . . . , k be the distinct eigenvalues ofT with
corresponding multiplicities m1 , m2 , . . . , mk . For 1 i k, let i be an ordered basis for Ki . Then
the following statements are true.
1. i j = for i 6= j.
2. = 1 2 k is an ordered basis for V .
3. dim(Ki ) = mi for all i.
Corollary: Let T be a linear operator on a finite-dimensional vector space V such that the
characteristic polynomial of T splits. Then T is diagonizable if and only if E = K for every
eigenvalue of T .
Cycle of Generalized Eigenvectors: Given x a generalized eigenvector of T corresponding to the
eigenvalue . Suppose that p is the smallest positive integer for which (T I)p (x) = 0. Then the
ordered set
{(T I)p1 (x), (T I)p2 (x), . . . , (T I)(x), x}
is called a cycle of generalized eigenvectors of T corresponding to . (T I)p1 is the initial vector
while x is the end vector. p is the length of the cycle.
Theorem 7.5: Suppose that is a basis for V such that is a disjoint union of cycles of generalized
eigenvectors of T . Then the following statements are true:
(a) For each cycle of generalized eigenvectors contained in , W = span() is T -invariant, and [Tw ]
is a Jordan block.
(b) is a Jordan canonical basis for V .
Theorem 7.6: Let T be a linear operator on a vector space V , and let be an eigenvalue of T .
Suppose that 1 , 2 , . . . , q are cycles of generalized eigenvectors of T corresponding to such that
the initial vectors of the i s are distinct and form a linearly independent set. Then the i s are
disjoint, and their union = qi=1 i is linearly independent.
Corollary: Every cycle of generalized eigenvectors of a linear operator is linearly independent.
Theorem 7.7: Let T be a linear operator on a finite-dimensional vector space V , and let be an
eigenvalue of T . Then K has an ordered basis consisting of a union of disjoint cycles of generalized
eigenvectors corresponding to .
Corollary 1: Let T be a linear operator on a finite-dimensional vector space V whose characteristic
polynomial splits. Then T has a Jordan canonical form.
Corollary 2: Let A be an n n matrix whose characteristic polynomial splits. Then A has a Jordan
canonical form J, and A is similar to J. Theorem 7.8: Let T be a linear operator on a
finite-dimensional vector space V whose characterisitic polynomial splits. Then V is the direct sum of
the generalized eigenspaces of T .

2
Problems
#1(a)(b)(c)(f)(h), 2, 6, 7(a)(b)(c)(d)

For #2, do the following:

Find the eigenvalues for A.

Set the matrix B = A I

Calculate several powers of B 1 , B 2 , . . . B i to determine the rank stabilizing constant
Find a basis for the kernel of B N , the basis for the generalized eigenspace

Synthesize the bases found for all K (T ) and determine a proper basis for whole space V .
Note that we may not find a Jordan matrix, but at least find some matrix of T into smaller sub-matrices.

Challenge Problems
#3(a)(b) Do the same as #2, but extra first and last step:
First step: Write down the matrix of T in the standard basis of the given V
Last step: When we find the basis for V , we can write the basis as column-vectors in Rn . Translate
these vectors into actual vectors in the original space V .