finding a power of a matrix

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When you are given the eigenvectors and eigenvalues of a matrix A and are asked to solve for A^3, for the formula A = PDP^-1 is your diagonal matrix the identity matrix with the eigenvalues swapped with the 1s? for example:

Matrix A is a 3x3 with eigenvalues: 0,1,-1 and eigenvectors: [1,1,0],[0,1,1],[1,0,1]

would the diagonal matrix be 0 0 0
                             0 1 0
                             0 0 -1

 ??
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One issue, our diagonal matrix is:

$$J = \begin{bmatrix} 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & -1 \end{bmatrix}$$

We can now write $P$ using the eigenvectors as column vectors that follow their respective eigenvalues as:

$$P = \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 & 1\\ 1 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 & 1 \end{bmatrix}$$

Lastly, we can write:

$$A^3 = PJ^3P^{-1}$$

Finding $J^3$ is just a matter of writing $\lambda_i^3$ in the diagonal entries of $J$.

You might want to review Diagonalizable Matrices and these notes.