MATH 417 Lecture 21

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Special Matrices

  • (strictly) Diagonally Dominant: Failed to parse (unknown function "\nej"): {\displaystyle a_{ii} > \sum_{i\nej} (a_{ij})}
  • (strictly) Positive Definite: A=AT

Both types are nonsingular, and


Theorem. If A is diagonally dominant, then we can perform gaussian elimination without pivoting: A=LU; L=[10ℓij1]; U=[u11uij0unn]

Proof. After one step of gaussian elimination, we go from matrix A(1) to A(2), where ai1(2)=0 for i≠1 by adding (row 1) × −ai1(1)a11(1) to the i-th row:

aij(2)=aij(1)−ai1(1)a11(1)a1j(1)

This is possible because a11≠0 by the diagonally dominant property:

∑j≠i|aij(2)|=∑j≠i|aij(1)−ai1(1)a11(1)a1j(1)|≤∑j≠i|aij(1)|+∑j≠i|ai1(1)a11(1)|⋅|a1j(1)|≤|aii(1)|−|ai1(1)|⏟row i+|ai1(1)a11(1)|(∑j=2n|a1j(1)|⏟<|a11(1)|−|a1i(1)|)<|aii(1)|−|ai1(1)a11(1)a1i(1)|≤aii(2)

The theorem holds by induction.

quod erat demonstrandum


Theorem. If A is positive definite, then

aii>0 for i=1,2,…,n
aij2<aiiaij for i≠j
max1≤i,j≤n|aij|=max1≤i≤n|aii|

Proof. Let A be a n×n matrix with entries (aij)

By definition, we have A=AT (or A=AT‾, if a∈ℂn)

Define the minor of matrix A to be:

Mii=[a11…a1i⋮⋱⋮ai1…aii] for i=1,2,…,n

Lemma: A is positive definite if and only if |Mii|>0.


Let's start with n=1:

A=(a11), x→=(x1)≠0. x→TAx→=a11x2>0 if and only if a11>0

For n=2:

A=[a11a12a21a22], and x→=⟨x1,x2⟩.

We have x→TAx→=F(x1,x2)=a11x12+2a12x1x2+a22x22. If x→=⟨1,0⟩, then a11>0; if x→=⟨0,1⟩, then a22>0; and for any other x→, we have a122<a11a12


For the general case, let x→=e^i=⟨0,0,…,1,…,0⟩. Then x→TAx→=aii.

If x→=e^i+e^j, then x→TAx→ gives (aiixi+ajixj)xi+(aijxi+ajjxj)xj=aiixi2+2aijxixj+ajjxj2. This is positive if and only if the diagonal entries are positive.


To prove the final property, let xi=1 and xj=−1 in the previous part. Then x→TAx→=aii−2aij+ajj>0.

Now let xi=1 and xj=1. Then x→TAx→=aii+2aij+ajj>0.

Hence |aij|<aii+ajj2<max1≤i≤naii

quod erat demonstrandum

These conditions are necessary, but not sufficient.


Section 7.1: Norms

In general, solving Ax→=b→ for x→ costs O(n3).

If A is a good matrix (not identity) positive definite, given ϵ>0, find x(1),x(2),…,x(k) such that |x(k)−x|≤ϵ and |Axk−b|<ϵ

Let V be a linear space (closed on addition and scalar multiplication)

Definition. ‖⋅‖ is a norm if:

  1. ‖x‖≥0 for x∈V
  2. ‖αx‖=|α|‖x‖ for all scalars α
  3. ‖x+y‖≤‖x‖+‖y‖.


Most important vector norms:

  1. ‖x→‖∞=max1≤i≤n|xi|
  2. ‖x→‖p=(∑i=1n|xi|p)1p for 1≤p<∞