UNIT 5.

Diagonalization

Exercise 1. Diagonalize the following matrices over R:  

    1 1 1 1
  1 2 −2 0 7 −6
4 4  1 1 −1 −1 
a) ; b)  2 1 −2  ; c)  −1 4 0 ; d)  .
1 4  1 −1 1 −1 
2 2 −3 0 2 −2
1 −1 −1 1

Exercise 2. Find the n-th power of the matrix  

0 1 1
A= 1 0 1 .
1 1 0

Exercise 3. Diagonalize the following matrices over C: √

i √0 0
   
3 1 √
−
 
2 0 0  2 2  2 2 
a)  0 0.8 −0.6  ; b)
 √;

c)  0
 − .


1 3  √2 √2
0 0.6 0.8 
− −

2 2

2 2 0
2 2
Exercise 4. Find out if the following matrices are diagonalizable over R and over C:
 √ 
2 2 1
 − 3
   
1 1 0 1 1 0 3 
a)  0 1 0  ; b)  1 0 0  ; c) 
 √ .

1 2 2
0 0 1 −1 0 1 − −
 
3 3

Exercise 5. Find the values of the real parameters a, b, c ∈ R such that the following matrix is diagonalizable:
 
1 a 1
 0 1 b .
0 0 c

Exercise 6. In R3 we consider the bases B1 = {~v1 , ~v2 , ~v3 } and B2 = {w

~ 1, w ~ 3 } where w
~ 2, w ~ 1 = ~v1 , w
~ 2 = ~v1 + ~v2 and
~ 3 = ~v3 . Let T1 and T2 be the endomorphisms whose associated matrices with respect to the bases B1 and
w
B2 for R3 as the initial and final space respetively) are
   
1 0 0 1 −1 0
A1 =  0 1 0  and A2 =  0 1 0 
0 0 2 0 0 2

Are these endomorphisms diagonalizable?

Exercise 7. Let A denote a matrix of order 6 × 6 whose characteristic polynomial is p(λ) = (1 + λ)(1 − λ)2 (2 − λ)3 .
(a) Show that there are no linearly independent vectors ~v1 , ~v2 , ~v3 ∈ R3 such that A~v1 = ~v1 , A~v2 = ~v2 and
A~v3 = ~v3 .
(b) If A is diagonalizable, what is the dimension of each eigenspace of its?
Exercise 8. Find a matrix such that
a) its eigenvalues are 1 with multiplicity 2, and 2 with multiplicity 1;
b) and (1, 1, 1) and (1, 2, 1) are eigenvectors associated to the eigenvalue 1, whereas (0, 1, 2) is an eigenvector
associated to 2.

Exercise 9. Let V be a vector space on R and B = {~e1 , ~e2 , ~e3 , ~e4 } a basis of V . Consider an endomorphism T : V → V
that has the eigenvectors ~v1 = ~e1 + ~e2 + ~e3 + ~e4 , ~v2 = ~e1 + ~e3 + ~e4 , ~v3 = ~e2 + ~e3 + ~e4 and ~v4 = ~e1 + ~e2 + ~e3 ,
associated to different eigenvalues. Assuming that T (2~e1 + ~e2 + 3~e3 + 4~e4 ) = 6~e1 + 5~e2 + 9~e3 + 8~e4 , find the
matrix associated to the endomorphism T w.r.t. the basis {~e1 , ~e2 , ~e3 , ~e4 }.

Exercise 10. In the vector space R3 [x], consider the endomorphism T defined by T (ax3 + bx2 + cx + d) = dx3 + cx2 + bx + a.
a) Show that T is an endomorphism.
b) Compute the matrix associated to T w.r.t. the basis {1, x, x2 , x3 }.

1
 c) Find a basis of R3 [x] for which the matrix associated to T is diagonal, and compute this diagonal matrix.

Exercise 11. Let E be the following subspace of M2 (R):

     
1 2 0 2 1 1
E = hBi , being B = , , .
0 1 0 0 1 1

Define the endomorphism T : E → E as follows:

   
a b+c 0 2b + c
A= 7→ T (A) = .
−b + c a −2b + c 0

a) Find the matrix associated to T w.r.t. the basis B.

b) Find Ker(T ) and Im(T ) = T (E).
c) Compute a basis of E w.r.t. which the matrix associated to T is diagonal.

Exercise 12. Consider an endomorphism T of a vector space E. Show that, if λ is an eigenvalue of T , then λp is an
eigenvalue of the endomorphism T p . Also prove that, when T is bijective (i.e., an automorphism), the
eigenvalues of T −1 are the multiplicative inverses of the eigenvalues of T .

Exercise 13. In a certain animal population, there are xk females and yk males. The following generation depends on the
current one through 
xk+1 = 0.8xk + 0.7yk
xk+1 = 0.2xk + 0.3yk
Rewrite the relation above in matrix form, and estimate the third generation population starting with 300
females and 100 males. What is the population in the long-term? and what is the main sex in the long-term?

Exercise 14. Let us consider the system of ordinary differential equations

 0
y1 = 65y1 + 42y2
y20 = −9y1 − 4y2

(a) Rewrite the system in matrix form, and check that ~v1 = (2, −3) and ~v2 = (−7, 11) are eigenvectors of
the matrix of such system.
(b) Find the particular solution that satisfies the initial condition y1 (0) = −14, y2 (0) = 22.
(c) Find the particular solution that satisfies the initial condition y1 (0) = −3, y2 (0) = 5.
(b) Find the particular solution that satisfies the initial condition y1 (0) = 9, y2 (0) = −14.

Exercise 15. Let us consider the system of ordinary differential equations

 0
y1 = −y2
y20 = y1

(a) Show that y1 (x) = cos x, y2 (x) = sin x is a solution of the system.
(b) Show that y1 (x) = − sin x, y2 (x) = cos x is a solution of the system.
(c) Find the particular solution that satisfies the initial condition y1 (0) = 0, y2 (0) = 1.
(d) Find the particular solution that satisfies the initial condition y1 (0) = 1, y2 (0) = 1.

Exercise 16. Solve

 the0 following systems of ordinary differential equations:
 0
 y1 = −3y1 + y2 + y3  y1 = 3y1 + y2 − y3
(a) y20 = y1 − 3y2 + y3 (b) y 0 = y1 + 3y2 − y3
 0  02
y = y1 + y2 − 3y3 y = 3y1 + 3y2 − y3
 03  03
y1 = 2y1 + 4y2 y1 = −y1 + 3y2
(c) (d)
y20 = −y1 + 2y2 y20 = −3y1 − y2

Exercise 17. Find the general solution of the system of ordinary differential equations
 0
y1 = −y1 + 2y2
y20 = −5y1 − 3y2

Compute the particular solution that satisfies the initial condition y1 (0) = 1, y2 (0) = 1.