Linear Dynamical Systems Lecture 13-generalized eigenvectors, diagonalization, and Jordan canonical form

Jordan normal form (often called Jordan canonical form) shows that a given square matrix M over a field K containing the eigenvalues of M can be transformed into a certain normal form by changing the basis. This normal form is almost diagonal in the sense that its only non-zero entries lie on the diagonal and the superdiagonal. This is made more precise in the Jordan-Chevalley decomposition. One can compare this result with the spectral theorem for normal matrices, which is a special case of the Jordan normal form.