ELA, Volume 7, pp. 174-177, September 2000, abstract.
                                                      
An elementary proof of the Hilbert-Mumford criterion

B. Sury

An elementary proof of the Hilbert-Mumford semistability 
criterion is given that is valid over the complex field. 
The proof of the criterion is deduced from an elementary 
lemma in linear algebra that may be of independent interest.