[Math] If $A^2 = I$, then $A$ is diagonalizable, and is $I$ if $1$ is its only eigenvalue

diagonalizationeigenvalues-eigenvectorslinear algebramatrices

Let $A$ be a square matrix of order $n$ such that $A^2 = I$.

  1. Prove that if $1$ is the only eigenvalue of $A$, then $A = I$.
  2. Prove that $A$ is diagonalizable.

For (1), I know that there are two eigenvalues which are $1$ and $-1$, how do I go about proving what the question asks me?

Best Answer

If $A \neq I$, then there is a (non-zero) vector $v$ such that $v \neq Av$, which is to say $v-Av \neq 0$. But then we have $$ A(v-Av) = Av - A^2v = Av - Iv = Av - v = -(v-Av) $$ which means that $v-Av$ is a non-zero eigenvector of $A$ with eigenvalue $-1$. Thus we have proven $$ A \neq I \implies A\text{ has } -1\text{ as an eigenvalue} $$ which is the contraposition of what we were asked to prove, and we are therefore done.