Suppose VV is finite-dimensional and S,TL(V)S,T \in \mathcal L(V). Prove that STST is invertible if and only if both SS and TT are invertible.


If both SS and TT are invertible, then STST is obviously invertible with inverse T1S1T^{-1}S^{-1}.

Now suppose STST is invertible with inverse RR, then (RS)T=I(RS)T = I implies TT is injective (it has a left inverse) which by 3.69 means TT is invertible.
Since TT is invertible and S=S(TT1)=(ST)T1S = S(TT^{-1}) = (ST)T^{-1} is the product of two invertible transformations SS is also invertible.