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Given a n n matrix A, if
Av = v, v 6= 0
(6.1.1)
2 1
1 2
Then, we have:
2 1
1
1
2 1
1
1
=3
,
=
.
1 2
1
1
1 2
1
1
(6.1.2)
(6.1.3)
We thus see that 3 and 1 are eigenvalues of the matrix A and that the
corresponding eigenvectors are (1, 1)T and (1, 1)T . An important thing to
note here that the eigenvector corresponding to 3, say, is not unique. Any
non-zero scalar multiple of (1, 1)T is also an eigenvector corresponding to
the eigenvalue 3.
Now consider:
2 1 1
(6.1.4)
A = 1 2 1
1 1 2
77
In this case, the eigenvalues are 4 and 1, and the eigenvectors are:
1
1
1
1
1
1
A 1 = 4 1 , A 1 = 1 , A 0 = 0 .
(6.1.5)
1
1
0
0
1
1
Note here that there are two linearly independent eigenvectors for the eigenvalue 1.
Given a matrix A, how can we find the eigenvalues of A? We argue as
follows. Equation (6.1.1) can be written as:
Av Iv = 0,
(6.1.6)
(6.1.7)
Now, note that v is a non-zero vector. The above equation states that a
non-zero vector is being sent to the origin. Therefore, the matrix A I has
a non-trivial kernel, and this implies that AI is not invertible. Therefore,
det(A I) = 0.
(6.1.8)
This gives us an equation for the eigenvalues. The above equation is called
the characteristic equation and det(A I) is called the characteristic polynomial. Let us state this as a theorem.
Theorem 14. Given an n n matrix A, is an eigenvalue of A if and only
if it satisfies the following characteristic equation:
det(A I) = 0.
(6.1.9)
Once the eigenvalues are found, we may find the eigenvectors by solving
the equation:
(A I)v = 0
(6.1.10)
viewing v as the unknown. This is just a homogeneous linear equation,
which we know very well how to solve.
Example 16. Consider the matrix:
1 2
.
A=
1 4
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(6.1.11)
Yoichiro Mori
(6.1.14)
3 0 1
(6.1.15)
A = 0 3 0 .
1 0 2
The characteristic equation is:
3
0
2
det 0
3
0 = (3 )((3 )(2 ) 1) = 0.
1
0
2
(6.1.16)
Solving this equation, we see that the eigenvalues are = 1, 3, 4. The eigenvalue for = 1 can be obtained by solving the equation:
2 0 2
a
0
0 3 0 b = 0 .
(6.1.17)
1 0 1
c
0
An eigenvector for = 1 is (1, 0, 1)T . For = 3, an eigenvector is
(0, 1, 0)T and for = 4, one eigenvector is (2, 0, 1)T .
Let us examine the characteristic equation is greater detail. First of all,
we have the following result.
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(6.1.18)
(6.1.19)
(6.1.20)
where we used the same noation as in (6.1.19). The first term in the above
sum is:
b11 det(B11 ) = (a11 ) det(A11 I)
(6.1.21)
where aij is the ij component of the matrix A and Aij is the ij minor.
By the induction hypothesis, det(A11 I) is a polynomial in of degree
n 1, and the leading order term is (1)n1 n1 . Therefore, (6.1.21) is a
polynomial in of degree n with leading order term (1)n n . Consider the
other terms in (6.1.20):
(1)k+1 b1k det(B1k ) = (1)k+1 a1k det(B1k ), k 2.
(6.1.22)
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Yoichiro Mori
(6.1.23)
(6.1.24)
The characteristic equation and the eigenvalues for this matrix are:
2 4 + 5 = 0, = 2 i.
(6.1.25)
The eigenvector corresponding to 2 + i is (i, 1)T and the eigenvector corresponding to 2 i is (i, 1)T .
We also point out that it is very possible for a n n matrix to have less
than n distinct eigenvalue. We have already seen an example of this for the
matrix in equation (6.1.4).
6.2
Diagonalization
(6.2.1)
1 0
0 2
D= .
.. . .
..
.
.
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0
0
..
.
(6.2.2)
Yoichiro Mori
The matrix D is thus a diagonal matrix whose diagonals are the eigenvalues
of A. Equation (6.2.1) can now be written as:
AP = P D.
(6.2.3)
(6.2.5)
(6.2.6)
(6.2.7)
(6.2.8)
There are cases in which the matrix does not have n linearly independent
eigenvectors. In such a case, A cannot be diagonalized.
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Yoichiro Mori
2 1
.
0 2
(6.2.9)
0 1
a
0
=
.
0 0
b
0
(6.2.10)
An eigenvector is (1, 0)T , and there are no other linearly independent eigenvectors.
There is large class of matrices for which diagonalizability is guaranteed.
Proposition 20. Suppose a n n matrix A has n distinct eigenvalues.
Then, A has n linearly independent eigenvectors, each corresponding to different eigenvalues. The matrix A is thus diagonalizable.
Proof. Let 1 , , n be the n distinct eigenvalues of A. Take one eigenvector vk for each eigenvalue k so that
Avk = k vk .
(6.2.11)
(6.2.12)
We now show that all ck must be equal to 0. This shows that vk are linearly
independent, and thus A is diagonalizable. To conclude that c1 is 0, multiply
both sides of (6.2.12) from the left by the matrix:
(A 2 I)(A 3 I) (A n I).
(6.2.13)
Since (A k I)vk = 0, all terms disappear except for the first term:
c1 (1 2 )(1 3 ) (1 n )v1 = 0.
(6.2.14)
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Yoichiro Mori
6.3
Matrix Powers
1 0 0
0 2 0
1
P AP = D, D = .
(6.3.1)
.. . .
..
..
. .
.
0
(6.3.2)
Ak = P DP 1 P DP 1 P DP 1 = P D k P 1
(6.3.3)
Therefore,
since all the intervening P 1 P = I. The beautiful thing here is that D k is
very easy to compute. It is just:
k
1 0 0
0 k 0
2
k
D = .
(6.3.4)
.. . .
.. .
.
.
. .
.
0
kn
Example 20. Let us look at matrix powers of the matrix in Example (18).
Using the same notation, we have:
k
1 2 3
1 3
2
0
k
k 1
A = PD P =
1 2
0 (3)k 5 1 1
(6.3.5)
k+1
1 2
(3)k+1
3 2k + (3)k+1
.
=
5 2k+1 2 (3)k 3 2k + 2 (3)k+1
6.4
84
(6.4.1)
Yoichiro Mori
(6.4.2)
(6.4.3)
n
n X
X
i=1 j=1
aij bji =
n
n X
X
(6.4.5)
j=1 i=1
(6.4.7)
(6.4.8)
Note that:
where we used (6.4.4).
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6.5
(6.5.1)
we say that A and B are similar matrices. We have seen that, in many cases,
we can find a matrix P so that B is a diagonal matrix. However, in some
cases, this is not possible. Even if it is possible, it is sometimes the case that
the eigenvalues are complex conjugates, in which case diagonalization will
produce a complex matrix. Here, we try to see how far we can go, only with
real matrices. This will yield a classification of 2 2 matrices by similarity.
Let the eigenvalues of the 2 2 matrix A be 1 and 2 . When 1 6= 2
and real, we know that it is diagonalizable with a real matrix P . In this
case, we have:
1 0
1
P AP =
.
(6.5.2)
0 2
The matrix A, from a geometric standpoint, is a transformation that stretches
the plane in the eigenvector directions by a factor of 1 and 2 respectively.
When 1 = 2 , there are two situations. It may happen that the matrix
A still has two linearly independent eigenvectors v1 and v2 . In this case,
P 1 AP = 1 I, P = (v1 , v2 )
(6.5.3)
(6.5.4)
(6.5.5)
The claim is that there is such a vector v2 and that v1 and v2 are linearly
independent. To see that the above equation can be solved, we need to
show that v1 is in the image or (A 1 I). This can be seen as follows. Any
element w in the image of (A 1 I) can be written as:
w = (A 1 I)v
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(6.5.6)
Yoichiro Mori
(6.5.7)
(A 1 I)w = (A 1 I)2 v = 0.
(6.5.8)
(6.5.9)
AP =
1 1
, P = (v1 v2 ).
0 1
(6.5.10)
(6.5.11)
0 1
.
0 0
(6.5.12)
Now, using the binomial theorem and noting that N I = IN , we see that
k(k 1) k2 k2 2
1 I
N + .
2
(6.5.13)
2
Since N = 0, all terms except for the first two terms are just the zero
matrix. therefore,
k
1 k1k1
k1
k
k
B = 1 I + k1 N =
.
(6.5.14)
0
k1
B k = (1 I + N )k = k1 I k + k1k1 I k1 N +
Now that we know the matrix powers of B, we can compute the matrix
power of A in (6.5.10) as:
Ak = P B k P 1 .
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(6.5.15)
Yoichiro Mori
(6.5.16)
(6.5.17)
(6.5.19)
(6.5.20)
1 1
2 1
.
, P =
1 0
0 2
(6.5.21)
Therefore, we have:
P
AP =
(6.5.22)
Let us now turn to the case when the 2 2 matrix A has two complex
conjugate eigenvalues. In this case, the two eigenvalues are:
= a ib
= a + ib,
(6.5.23)
(6.5.24)
where u and w are real vectors. We see from the above that
Au =
MATH 2574H
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1
v) = au bw.
) = (v +
A(v + v
2
2
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(6.5.25)
Yoichiro Mori
Likewise,
Aw =
1
1
v) = bu + aw.
) (v
A(v v
2i
2i
(6.5.26)
a b
, P = (w, u).
b a
(6.5.27)
(You may have realized that we are letting P = (wu) instead of P = (uw).
It is slightly more convenient to let P = (wu)). In fact, the matrix P is
must be linearly indepeninvertible. This can be seen as follows: v and v
dent (they correspond to different eigenvalues) and therefore, u and w must
be linearly independent. Therefore, any matrix with complex conjugate
eigenvalues can be written as:
a b
1
P AP = B, B =
.
(6.5.28)
b a
Recall that we have seen the matrix B before. This is just a composition of
magnification and rotation. Therefore, any matrix with complex conjugate
eigenvalues can be seen as a linear transformation involving magnification
and a rotation.
Now, we may consider the matrix powers of A. Note that B can be
written as:
p
a
b
cos() sin()
2
2
, cos() =
, sin() =
.
B = a +b
sin() cos()
a 2 + b2
a 2 + b2
(6.5.29)
This is just the statement that B is magnification with rotation. Therefore,
p
k cos(k) sin(k)
k
2
2
.
(6.5.30)
B =( a +b )
sin(k) cos(k)
Using this, we may compute Ak as:
Ak = P Ak P 1 .
(6.5.31)
2 1
2 0
(6.5.32)
89
(6.5.33)
Yoichiro Mori
(6.5.34)
Therefore, if we set:
1
0
u=
, w=
, P = (wu)
1
1
we have:
P
Now
B=
AP = B, B =
(6.5.35)
1 1
1 1
(6.5.36)
cos(/4) sin(/4)
.
2
sin(/4) cos(/4)
(6.5.37)
Thus,
cos(k/4) sin(k/4)
B k = ( 2)k
.
sin(k/4) cos(k/4)
(6.5.38)
6.6
Exercises
2 1 0 1
3 1 1
1 1 2
0 1 0
1 3 1 , 0 1 1 , 0 0 1 , 1 2 1 0
0 1 2 1
1 1 3
0 0 2
1 0 0
1 0 1 2
(6.6.1)
2. Diagonalize the 2 2 matrices in problem 1, if possible.
3. Find the matrix powers of the 2 2 matrices in problem 1.
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(6.6.3)
(6.6.4)
Show that this set is a subspace. This subspace is called the eigenspace
of .
9. A n n matrix A satisfies:
A2 3A + 2I = O
(6.6.5)
a 1a
b 1b
91
(6.6.6)
Yoichiro Mori
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(6.6.7)
Yoichiro Mori