Jordan normal form

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In linear algebra, a Jordan normal form, also known as a Jordan canonical form, is an upper triangular matrix of a particular form called a Jordan matrix representing a linear operator on a finite-dimensional vector space with respect to some basis. Such a matrix has each non-zero off-diagonal entry equal to 1, immediately above the main diagonal (on the superdiagonal), and with identical diagonal entries to the left and below them. Let V be a vector space over a field K. Then a basis with respect to which the matrix representing the operator has the required form exists if and only if all eigenvalues of the operator lie in K, or equivalently if the characteristic polynomial of the operator splits into linear factors over K. This condition is always satisfied if K is algebraically closed (for instance, if it is the field of complex numbers). The diagonal entries of the normal form are the eigenvalues (of the operator), and the number of times each eigenvalue occurs is called the algebraic...

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