Thread: Hard eigenvector/eigenvalue proof

Struggling with this:

I started by saying A is invertible if and only if Ax = 0 has a trivial solution.

So there exists x = 0 where Ax = 0

0 = lamda. 0 = 0

I'm not quite sure this proves that lamda is not equal to zero though?!

Multiple both sides by A inverse

Originally Posted by chr91

Struggling with this:

I started by saying A is invertible if and only if Ax = 0 has a trivial solution.

You've pretty much got everything backwards here. Ax= 0 for x= 0 for any A. What is true is that A is invertible if and only if there is NO non-trivial solution. That is if x= 0 is the only x such that Ax= 0.

Saying that is an eigenvalue of A means there exist non-zero x such that . Use the fact that A is invertible to multiply both sides by .

So there exists x = 0 where Ax = 0

0 = lamda. 0 = 0

I'm not quite sure this proves that lamda is not equal to zero though?!

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