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Chapter 8 Jordan Normal Form 8.1 Minimal Polynomials Recall pA (x) = det(xI −A) is called the characteristic polynomial of the matrix A. Theorem 8.1.1. Let A ∈Mn . Then there exists a unique monic polyno- mial qA (x) of minimum degree for which qA (A) = 0. If p (x) is any polyno- mial such that p (A) = 0, then qA (x) divides p (x). Proof. Since there is a polynomial pA (x) for which pA (A) = 0, there is one of minimal degree, which we can assume is monic. by the Euclidean algorithm pA (x) = qA (x)h(x) + r (x) where deg r (x) deg qA (x). We know pA (A) = qA (A)h(A) + r (A). Hence r (A) = 0, and by the minimality assumption r (x) ≡ 0. Thus qA divided pA (x) and also any polynomial for which p (A) = 0. to establish that qA is unique, suppose q (x) is another monic polynomial of the same degree for which q (A) = 0. Then r (x) = q (x) −qA (x) is a polynomial of degree less than qA (x) for which r (a) = q (A) −qA (A) = 0. This cannot be unless r (x) ≡0 = 0q = qA . Definition 8.1.1. The polynomial qA (x) in the theorem above is called the minimal polynomial. 221 222 CHAPTER 8. JORDAN NORMAL FORM Corollary 8.1.1. If A, B ∈Mn are similar, then they have the same min- imal polynomial. Proof. B = S−1AS −1 −1 qA (B) = qA (S AS) = S qA (A)S = qA (A) = 0. If there is a minimal polynomial for B of smaller degree, say qB (x), then qB (A) = 0 by the same argument. This contradicts the minimality of qA (x). Now that we have a minimum polynomial for any matrix, can we find a matrix with a given polynomial as its minimum polynomial? Can the degree the polynomial and the size