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Suppose $A$ is a linear transformation of a 3-dim vector space $V$, defined as $$A(\epsilon_1,\epsilon_2,\epsilon_3)=(\epsilon_1,\epsilon_2,\epsilon_3) \begin{pmatrix} -10 & 12 & 7\\ -3 & 4 & 2\\ -13 & 15 & 9 \end{pmatrix}, $$here $\{\epsilon_i\}$ is a basis of $V$.

Is there a concise way to find the transition matrix to a new basis under which the linear operator $A$ has a matrix of Jordan form? And what's behind the solution?

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    [Does this help?](http://www.millersville.edu/~rumble/Math.422/jordansolutions.pdf)2012-04-22
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    Have you worked out the eigen values, firstly, so that you can work with transformations that have eigen value $0$?2012-04-22
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    I assume you're working over complex field, and can you tell us what the characteristic polynomial of this transformation?2012-04-22
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    @KannappanSampath yes,that's the first step. When I first come to the question, the most natural way come up to me is to find T by solving TJ=AT directly...yet that's an ugly way. Our textbook provides a better way, and I want to seek more, and I wonder how can I think similarly without clues from books?2012-04-22
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    So, tell us what the characteristic polynomial and roots are?2012-04-22
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    The characteristic polynomial is $\lambda^3-3\lambda^2+3\lambda-1$, and the roots are all equal to 1.2012-04-22
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    No, for $rank(A-I)=2$, actually here we only have one linearly independent eigenvector.2012-04-22
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    Right. Yes, I agree.2012-04-22

1 Answers 1

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Here are a couple of observations:

  1. The characteristic polynomial is $\lambda^3-3\lambda^2+3\lambda-1=0$ and therefore the only eigen value is $1$.

  2. We observe that $A-I$ has rank $2$ and hence $\dim(\ker(A-I))=1$ from the Rank-Nullity theorem.

  3. We know that the Jordan form for the matrix is $$J=\begin{bmatrix}1&1&0\\0&1&1\\0&0&1 \end{bmatrix}$$

  4. We are interested in finding a matrix $P$ such that $$P^{-1}AP=J=I+\begin{bmatrix} 0&1&0\\0&0&1\\0&0&0\end{bmatrix}$$

Setting $P=\begin{bmatrix} \biggl |& \biggl|&\biggl|\\x_1&x_2 &x_3\\\biggl|&\biggl|&\biggl|\end{bmatrix}$, and observing that, $AP=PJ$, can you solve the resulting system of vectors?

A couple of preliminaries:

  • Verify that $AP=\begin{bmatrix}\biggl| & \biggl| &\biggl|\\Ax_1& Ax_2 &Ax_3\\ \biggl| &\biggl| & \biggl|\end{bmatrix}$

  • Verify that $PJ=\begin{bmatrix}\biggl| & \biggl| &\biggl|\\x_1& x_1+x_2 &x_2+x_3\\ \biggl| &\biggl| & \biggl|\end{bmatrix}$


The steps 1 and 2 were already known to the OP. I'll post more hints as I work out.