Solution SD.C21 Robert Beezer
A calculator will provide the eigenvalues $\lambda=2,\,2,\,1,\,0$, so we can reconstruct the characteristic polynomial as \begin{equation*} \charpoly{A}{x}=(x-2)^2(x-1)x \end{equation*} so the algebraic multiplicities of the eigenvalues are \begin{align*} \algmult{A}{2}&=2& \algmult{A}{1}&=1& \algmult{A}{0}&=1 \end{align*} Now compute eigenspaces by hand, obtaining null spaces for each of the three eigenvalues by constructing the correct singular matrix (Theorem EMNS), \begin{align*} A-2I_4&= \begin{bmatrix} -1 & 9 & 9 & 24 \\ -3 & -29 & -29 & -68 \\ 1 & 11 & 11 & 26 \\ 1 & 7 & 7 & 16 \end{bmatrix} \rref \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 & 0 & -\frac{3}{2} \\ 0 & 1 & 1 & \frac{5}{2} \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \end{bmatrix}\\ \eigenspace{A}{2}&=\nsp{A-2I_4} =\spn{\set{\colvector{\frac{3}{2}\\-\frac{5}{2}\\0\\1},\,\colvector{0\\-1\\1\\0}}} =\spn{\set{\colvector{3\\-5\\0\\2},\,\colvector{0\\-1\\1\\0}}}\\ A-1I_4&= \begin{bmatrix} 0 & 9 & 9 & 24 \\ -3 & -28 & -29 & -68 \\ 1 & 11 & 12 & 26 \\ 1 & 7 & 7 & 17 \end{bmatrix} \rref \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 & 0 & -\frac{5}{3} \\ 0 & 1 & 0 & \frac{13}{3} \\ 0 & 0 & 1 & -\frac{5}{3} \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \end{bmatrix}\\ \eigenspace{A}{1}&=\nsp{A-I_4} =\spn{\set{\colvector{\frac{5}{3}\\-\frac{13}{3}\\\frac{5}{3}\\1}}} =\spn{\set{\colvector{5\\-13\\5\\3}}}\\ A-0I_4&= \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 9 & 9 & 24 \\ -3 & -27 & -29 & -68 \\ 1 & 11 & 13 & 26 \\ 1 & 7 & 7 & 18 \end{bmatrix} \rref \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 & 0 & -3 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 & 5 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 & -2 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \end{bmatrix}\\ \eigenspace{A}{0}&=\nsp{A}=\spn{\set{\colvector{3\\-5\\2\\1}}} \end{align*} From this we can compute the dimensions of the eigenspaces to obtain the geometric multiplicities, \begin{align*} \geomult{A}{2}&=2& \geomult{A}{1}&=1& \geomult{A}{0}&=1 \end{align*} For each eigenvalue, the algebraic and geometric multiplicities are equal and so by Theorem DMFE we now know that $A$ is diagonalizable. The construction in Theorem DC suggests we form a matrix whose columns are eigenvectors of $A$ \begin{equation*} S= \begin{bmatrix} 3 & 0 & 5 & 3 \\ -5 & -1 & -13 & -5 \\ 0 & 1 & 5 & 2 \\ 2 & 0 & 3 & 1 \end{bmatrix} \end{equation*} Since $\detname{S}=-1\neq 0$, we know that $S$ is nonsingular (Theorem SMZD), so the columns of $S$ are a set of 4 linearly independent eigenvectors of $A$. By the proof of Theorem SMZD we know \begin{equation*} \similar{A}{S}= \begin{bmatrix} 2 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 2 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \end{bmatrix} \end{equation*} is a diagonal matrix with the eigenvalues of $A$ along the diagonal, in the same order as the associated eigenvectors appear as columns of $S$.