Skip to main content
1 of 6
Pierre-Yves Gaillard
  • 20.6k
  • 3
  • 64
  • 112

This answer is basically the same as Paul Garret's. --- First I'll state the question as follows.

Let $V$ be a finite dimensional vector space over a field $K$, and let $S$ and $T$ be diagonalizable endomorphisms of $V$. We say that $S$ and $T$ are simultaneously diagonalizable if (and only if) there is a basis of $V$ which diagonalizes both. The theorem is

$S$ and $T$ are simultaneously diagonalizable if and only if they commute.

If $S$ and $T$ are simultaneously diagonalizable, they clearly commute. For the converse, I'll just refer to Theorem 5.1 of The minimal polynomial and some applications by Keith Conrad.

Pierre-Yves Gaillard
  • 20.6k
  • 3
  • 64
  • 112