Polynomials and linear transformations (Q913885)

Let A be a linear transformation on a vector space V and let n be a positive integer. The following statements are, more or less, well- known. (1) If \(I,A,A^ 2,...,A^{n-1}\) are linearly independent then there exists x in V such that \(x,Ax,A^ 2x,...,A^{n-1}x\) are linearly independent. (2) If for each x in V there is a nonzero polynomial p of degree n such that \(p(A)x=0\) then there exists one such polynomial that works for all x in V. These statements, which are classically equivalent, are not equivalent from a constructive point of view. The author gives a constructive proof of (2) for a finitely generated discrete vector space and gives a Brouwerian counterexample to (1) in the same setting.