Paper 1, Section II, B
Part IA, 2012
(a) (i) Find the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the matrix
(ii) Show that the quadric in defined by
is an ellipsoid. Find the matrix of a linear transformation of that will map onto the unit sphere .
(b) Let be a real orthogonal matrix. Prove that:
(i) as a mapping of vectors, preserves inner products;
(ii) if is an eigenvalue of then and is also an eigenvalue of .
Now let be a real orthogonal matrix having as an eigenvalue of algebraic multiplicity 2. Give a geometrical description of the action of on , giving a reason for your answer. [You may assume that orthogonal matrices are always diagonalisable.]