A simple proof of the generalized Craig-Sakamoto theorem (Q426072)

The authors give a short proof of the following generalized Craig-Sakamoto theorem: Let \(A\) and \(B\) be \(n\times n\) real symmetric matrices with \(a_1, \dots, a_s\) and \(b_1, \dots, b_t\) as their nonzero eigenvalues. Then the following conditions are equivalent: (1) \(AB = 0\). (2) \(|I_n - xA -yB| = |I_n - xA||I_n - yB|\) for any \(x, y \in \mathbb{R}\). (3) \(|I_n - x(A + B)| = |I_n - xA||I_n - xB|\) for any \(x \in \mathbb{R}\). (4) The nonzero eigenvalues of \(A + B\) are \(\{a_1, \dots, a_s, b_1, \dots, b_t \}\).