Solution to 2008 Problem 86


To find the eigenvalues, we solve the equation
\begin{align*}\det \left(\begin{matrix} 2 - \lambda & i \\ -i & 2 - \lambda \end{matrix} \right) = 0\end{align*}
Evaluating the determinant, we have
\begin{align*}(2 - \lambda)^2 - 1 = 0\end{align*}
So, the eigenvalues are both 1 and 3. Therefore, answer (B) is correct.


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