Why does conjugating Ax=λx, transposing it, and substituting Aᵀ=A force λ to equal its own conjugate—and which single step actually invokes the symmetry hypothesis?
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The proof that must be real
Reproduce the argument: conjugate , transpose it, substitute , multiply on the right by , and compare with to reach .
as the squared length
Expand , simplify a single term as , and state the total is positive for nonzero .
Hermitian matrices
Record the complex analogue of the symmetry condition and note that the same argument carries through with in place of .