Questions tagged [matrices]

For any topic related to matrices. This includes: systems of linear equations, eigenvalues and eigenvectors (diagonalization, triangularization), determinant, trace, characteristic polynomial, adjugate and adjoint, transpose, Jordan normal form, matrix algorithms (e.g. LU, Gauss elimination, SVD, QR), invariant factors, quadratic forms, etc. For questions specifically concerning matrix equations, use the (matrix-equations) tag.

A matrix is a rectangular array of elements, usually numbers or variables, arranged in rows and columns. A matrix with $m$ rows and $n$ columns has $m \times n$ elements and is called an $m$ by $n$ matrix. Matrices are a part of .

Matrices can be added and subtracted. Furthermore, if they have compatible shapes, they can be multiplied. More precisely, given two matrices $A$ and $B$, the matrix $AB$ is defined when the number of columns of $A$ is equal to the number of rows of $B$. In particular, given a natural number $n$, any two matrices $A$ and $B$ with $n$ columns and $n$ rows can be multiplied in both ways (that is, both $AB$ and $BA$ exist).


For questions specifically concerning matrix equations, use the tag.

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Exact Matrix Inversion

I have the following matrix: $$ \left( \begin{array}{ccc} 13 & 9.1 & 8.19 & 8.281 & 8.9271\\ 9.1 & 8.19 & 8.281 & 8.9271 & 10.02001\\ 8.19 & 8.281 & 8.9271 & 10.02001 & 11.562759\\ 8.281 & 8.9271 & 10.02001 & 11.562759 & 13.6147921\\ 8.9271 &…
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Find a matrix $A^2$ if $A$ is known

Given $$\mathbf{A}^2=2\mathbf{A}-\mathbf{I}$$ where $\mathbf{A}$ is a $4\times4$ matrix and $\mathbf{I}$ is the $4\times 4$ identity matrix. Express $\mathbf{A}^3$ and $\mathbf{A}^4$ in the form $$k\mathbf{A}+l\mathbf{I}$$ where $k$ and $l$ are…
Jacob
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Idempotent and nilpotent matrices are defined differently. Why?

We call $A$ idempotent if $A^2$ is $A$. But we call A nilpotent if $A^k$ is $0$ for some integer $k$. Why are not they defined uniformly like both with power 2 or both with power some integer $k$.
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Any $X\in O^+(n)$ (orthogonal matrices with positive determinant) is the product of an even number of reflections?

Any $X\in O^+(n)$ (orthogonal matrices with positive determinant) is the product of an even number of reflection? I am not able to prove this. Please help.
Myshkin
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SCALAR MATRIX, Matrices

I have read two definitions of scalar matrix. The first one is that a square matrix whose principal diagonal elements are some nonzero scalar is called scalar matrix. But the second is slightly different which says a square matrix whose diagonal…
Waqar
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Finding powers of matrices that cannot be diagonalised

In lessons, we have been taught to find a general solution finding a matrix to the power n by diagonalising it but for an assignment have been asked to find a general formula for: $$\begin{bmatrix}2 & 1\\0 & 2\end{bmatrix} ^ n$$ By expending it by…
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Non-symmetric singular matrix with index 1

The index of a matrix $A\in \mathbb{R}^{n\times n}$ is the smallest nonnegative integer $k$ such that ${\rm rank}\ (A^{k+1})={\rm rank}\ (A^k)$. I am looking for a singular matrix with index 1. Is it possible to construct such type of matrix?…
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What does $\bigotimes$ and $X^*$ mean?

Can someone explain / link me to a linear algebra worked problem where I can see how these work. I've searched and given their statistics and matrix specialty uses, can't find any ready examples.
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Is the spectral norm of a matrix differentiable?

Let $X$ be an $m\times n$ matrix and let $f(X) = \|X\|$ denote its spectral norm. Does $\frac{\partial f(X)}{\partial X_{ij}}$ always exist?
Hedonist
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Solving Matrix Equation

I'm having a dickens of a time solving a particular matrix problem: $$M^TB^T \Sigma B - 2 \Sigma BMB = 0$$ $M$ is a 1 by k matrix, with feature means. $B$ is a k by 1 matrix, with feature coefficients. $\Sigma$ is a k by k co-variance (symmetric)…
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Finding the number of sub-grids of a matrix

I am trying to find the number of $M\times M$ sub-grids given an $N\times N$ matrix, where $M \leq N$. For any concrete example it is easy to find the correct answer: Eg: $$\left( \begin{array}{ccc} 4 & 3 & 8\\ 9 & 5 & 1\\ 2 & 7 & 6\\ \end{array}…
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Matrix relationship with invertible matrix

Let $A,B$ be two $m\times n$ matrices, and $$A=BU,\ B=AV$$ for some $n\times n$ matrices $U,V$ . Prove that there exists some invertible $n\times n$ matrix $T$ such that $B=AT$. It really hinders me. I have knew that the columns of $A,B$ are…
xldd
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A question on a certain block decomposition of semi-definite matrices.

Let $m,n\in\mathbb{N}$, with $m,n>1$. Suppose $K\in \mathbb{M}_{mn\times mn}(\mathbb{C})$ is positive semidefinite. We can always write $$K=\sum_{i,j=1}^m E_{i,j}\otimes K_{i,j},$$ for some collection of matrices $K_{i,j}\in \mathbb{M}_{n\times…
JQX
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For what values of x is the matrix A invertible?

$A = \begin{bmatrix}-3x & 2\\4 & 4\end{bmatrix}$ How would I go about solving for what values of $x$ is the matrix $A$ invertible? I know that if the determinant is 0 the matrix is not invertible. I've looked at many answers on here but all of them…
Xylus
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Supremum of the set of maximum eigenvalues of correlation matrices

A correlation matrix is a positive semidefinite matrix $B\in M_{n}(\mathbb{C})$ such that the diagonal of $B$ is the identity matrix $I$. What is the supremum of the set of positive numbers $t$ such that there is a correlation matrix $B$ having $t$…
Jon Bannon
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