Endomorphism/Diagonalizable/Algebraic and geometric multiplicity/Fact/Proof
If is
diagonalizable,
then we can assume at once that is described by a
diagonal matrix
with respect to a basis of eigenvectors. The diagonal entries of this matrix are the eigenvalues, and these occur as often as their
geometric multiplicity
tells us. The
characteristic polynomial
can be read off directly from the diagonal matrix, every diagonal entry constitutes a linear factor .
For the other direction, let denote the different eigenvalues, and let
denote the (geometric and algebraic) multiplicities. Due to the condition, the characteristic polynomial factors in linear factors. Therefore, the sum of these numbers equals . Because of fact, the sum of the eigenspaces
is direct. By the condition, the dimension on the left is also , so that we have equality. Due to
fact,
is diagonalizable.