Jordan basis: An example

There is a problem from exam for 2006 which asks to compute the Jordan normal form in a
relatively simple situation, but which still gives occasion to re-iterate some important basic points
from the theory. In fact, we will solve the problem here in two different ways and also compute a
Jordan basis for the vector space.
Let
V = {a0 + a1 x + a2 x2 | ai C},
the vector space of polynomials of degree 2 with complex coefficients and

: V V

be the linear map defined by

d2
(f ) =f 4f
dx2
The first method is to reduce the problem to manipulation of ordinary matrices. That is, if B =
{1, x, x2 }, the obvious basis for V , then

(1) = 4, (x) = 4x, (x2 ) = 2 4x2

so that
4 0 2
A := []B = 0 4 0
0 0 4
From this one computes easily that
ch (x) = (x + 4)3
So 4 is the only eigenvalue, and for the minimal polynomial,

0 0 2
A + 4I = 0 0 0
0 0 0

so that (4I + A)2 = 0. Therefore, m (x) = (x + 4)2 . So we see that the size of the largest Jordan
block is 2 2, and the Jordan normal form must be

4 1 0
J = 0 4 0
0 0 4

Now we compute a Jordan basis in C3 with respect to A. First we find a basis for

Ker(A + 4I) = 0

that is, the 4 eigenspace. The condition for (x, y, z)t to be in this kernel is just 2z = 0, so that a
basis is given by (1, 0, 0)t and (0, 1, 0)t . Since (A + 4I)2 = 0, the second generalized eigenspace is all
of C3 , so that we can enlarge the previous basis B1 to B = B1 B2 where B2 = {(0, 0, 1)t }. We have
obtained thereby a pre-Jordan basis. Now we change this to a Jordan basis by applying (A + 4I) to
B2 to get (2, 0, 0)t and changing B1 thereby to {(2, 0, 0)t , (0, 1, 0)t }. The corresponding Jordan basis
must be ordered as
BJ = {b1 = (2, 0, 0)t , b2 = (0, 0, 1)t , b3 = (0, 1, 0)t }.
Then we have
(A + 4I)(b1 ) = 0, (A + 4I)(b2 ) = b1 , (A + 4I)b3 = 0

1
so that the corresponding matrix is

0 1 0
[A + 4I]JB = 0 0 0
0 0 0

Therefore,
4 1 0
[A]JB = 4I + [A + 4I]JB = 0 4 0
0 0 4
which is the Jordan canonical form.
For the original vector space V , the Jordan basis, of course, is then {2, x2 , x}.
d2
Here is another way to find this Jordan basis. Note that + 4I = dx 2 so that by general properties

of the derivative of polynomials, the kernel of + 4I is spanned by 1, x. Also, ( + 4I)2 is then the
fourth derivative, so that it clearly kills the whole vector space V . Thus, {1, x, x2 } is a pre-Jordan
basis. But then ( + 4I)(x2 ) = 2 so that the eventual Jordan basis becomes {2, x2 , x}.
Let us work out the Jordan basis in an even simpler case to get a feel for less computational
approaches. Let
d
L= : W W
dx
where W is the Cvector space of complex polynomials of degree 5. Then {1, x, . . . , x5 } is a basis
and W has dimension 6. Of course L6 = 0. If l is an eigenvalue with eigenvector v, then 0 = L6 v = l6 v,
so we must have l = 0. Thus
chL (X) = x6 .
On the other hand, L5 (x5 ) = 5! 6= 0. So
mL (x) = x6
This tell us that the Jordan normal form is

0 1 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 0 0

0 0 0 1 0 0

0 0 0 0 1 0

0 0 0 0 0 1
0 0 0 0 0 0

To find a Jordan basis, note that L(x5 ) = 5x4 , L(x4 ) = 4x3 , and so on, so that the given basis
is already almost a Jordan basis (actually, it is a pre-Jordan basis). We just need to adjust the
coefficients to get Jordan basis: Replace, x4 by 5x4 . Replace x3 by 4 5x3 , and so on. That is,

{b1 = 5!, b2 = 5!x, b3 = 5 4 3x2 , b4 = 5 4x3 , b5 = 5x4 , b6 = x5 }

is clearly a Jordan basis. That is,

(L + 0I)b6 = b5 , (L + 0I)b5 = b4 , , (L + 0I)b2 = b1 , (L + 0I)b1 = 0