Prove that a sum of projections is a projection iff they are orthogonal, if the characteristic of the space is not $2$

Question

Let $E_1$ and $E_2$ be projections on $V$, a vector space over $F$. Why is if $\operatorname{char}F\neq2$ then $E_1+E_2$ is a projection iff $E_1E_2=E_2E_1=0$ ?

Answer 1

Think about it this way: $E_1+E_2$ is a projection if it satisfies: $(E_1+E_2)^2=(E_1+E_2)$

(Use $E_iE_j$ to mean the composition)

1)Assume $E_1E_2=0$

We want to show that $(E_1+E_2)(E_1+E_2)=(E_1+E_2)$ This means that $E_2E_1+E_2E_2+.....=(E_1+E_2)$ Can you see the next step?

For the converse, assume $(E_1+E_2)$ is a projection, then it must satisfy $(E_1+E_2)^2=....$