Show that $$\exp \begin{pmatrix} x & -y\\ y & x\end{pmatrix}= \exp(x) \begin{pmatrix} \cos y& -\sin y\\ \sin y& \cos y\end{pmatrix}$$ for all $ x,y \in \mathbb{R} $.
My thought process is the following:
$$\left(\begin{array}{cc} a & -b\\ b & a\end{array}\right) + \left(\begin{array}{cc}c & -d\\ d& c\end{array}\right) = \left(\begin{array}{cc} a+c & -(b+d)\\ b+d & a+c \end{array}\right)$$
and
$$\left(\begin{array}{cc} a & -b\\ b & a\end{array}\right) \left(\begin{array}{cc}c & -d\\ d& c\end{array}\right) = \left(\begin{array}{cc} ac-bd & -(ad+bc)\\ ad+bc & ac-bd \end{array}\right).$$
Can I use this idea in my proof?
If the matrix is diagonalize $$ \mathbf{A} = \left(\matrix{x & -y \\ y & x}\right) $$ e.g. $$ \mathbf{A} = \mathbf{P}\mathbf{D}\mathbf{P}^{-1} $$ To do so we need to compute the eigenvalues $$ \det(\lambda \mathbf{I} - \mathbf{A}) $$ which is $$ (\lambda - x)(\lambda - x) - y \cdot (-y) = \lambda^2 -2x\lambda +x^2 + y^2 = 0 $$ thus $$ \lambda = \frac{2x \pm \sqrt{4x^2 - 4(x^2 + y^2)}}{2} = \frac{2x \pm2iy}{2} = x \pm iy $$ (if the eigenvalues are degenerate then we can not continue further)
compute the eigenvectors to create $\mathbf{P}$ and $$ \mathbf{D} = \left(\matrix{x + iy & 0 \\ 0 & x - iy}\right) $$ with this in place $$ \exp(\mathbf{A}) = \mathbf{P}\exp(\mathbf{D})\mathbf{P}^{-1} $$ where we have $$ \exp(\mathbf{D}) = \left(\matrix{\exp(x + iy) & 0 \\ 0 & \exp(x - iy)}\right) $$ then you need to pre/post multiply with the respective eigenvector matrices $\mathbf{P},\mathbf{P}^{-1}$.
notes: Please see details for diagonalization and conditions