It looks like given matrices are supposed to be
You can find the eigenvalues of matrix A by solving for λ in the equation det(A - λI) = 0, where I is the identity matrix. We also have the following facts about eigenvalues:
• tr(A) = trace of A = sum of diagonal entries = sum of eigenvalues
• det(A) = determinant of A = product of eigenvalues
(a) The eigenvalues are λ₁ = 1 and λ₂ = 5, since
and
λ₁ + λ₂ = 6 ⇒ λ₁ λ₂ = λ₁ (6 - λ₁) = 5
⇒ 6 λ₁ - λ₁² = 5
⇒ λ₁² - 6 λ₁ + 5 = 0
⇒ (λ₁ - 5) (λ₁ - 1) = 0
⇒ λ₁ = 5 or λ₁ = 1
To find the corresponding eigenvectors, we solve for the vector v in Av = λv, or equivalently (A - λI) v = 0.
• For λ = 1, we have
With v = (v₁, v₂)ᵀ, this equation tells us that
2 v₁ + 2 v₂ = 0
so that if we choose v₁ = -1, then v₂ = 1. So Av = v for the eigenvector v = (-1, 1)ᵀ.
• For λ = 5, we would end up with
and this tells us
-2 v₁ + 2 v₂ = 0
and it follows that v = (1, 1)ᵀ.
Then the decomposition of A into PDP⁻¹ is obtained with
where the n-th column of P is the eigenvector associated with the eigenvalue in the n-th row/column of D.
(b) Consult part (a) for specific details. You would find that the eigenvalues are i and -i, as in i = √(-1). The corresponding eigenvectors are (1 + i, 2)ᵀ and (1 - i, 2)ᵀ, so that A = PDP⁻¹ if
(c) For a 3×3 matrix, I'm not aware of any shortcuts like above, so we proceed as usual:
Since A - λI is upper-triangular, the determinant is exactly the product the entries on the diagonal:
det(A - λI) = (1 - λ) (2 - λ) (3 - λ) = 0
and it follows that the eigenvalues are λ₁ = 1, λ₂ = 2, and λ₃ = 3. Now solve for v = (v₁, v₂, v₃)ᵀ such that (A - λI) v = 0.
• For λ = 1,
tells us we can freely choose v₁ = 1, while the other components must be v₂ = v₃ = 0. Then v = (1, 0, 0)ᵀ.
• For λ = 2,
tells us we need to fix v₃ = 0. Then -v₁ + 2 v₂ = 0, so we can choose, say, v₂ = 1 and v₁ = 2. Then v = (2, 1, 0)ᵀ.
• For λ = 3,
tells us if we choose v₃ = 1, then it follows that v₂ = 3 and v₁ = 9/2. To make things neater, let's scale these components by a factor of 2, so that v = (9, 6, 2)ᵀ.
Then we have A = PDP⁻¹ for
(d) Consult part (c) for all the details. Or, we can observe that λ₁ = 2 is an eigenvalue, since subtracting 2I from A gives a matrix of only 1s and det(A - 2I) = 0. Then using the eigen-facts,
• tr(A) = 3 + 3 + 3 = 9 = 2 + λ₂ + λ₃ ⇒ λ₂ + λ₃ = 7
• det(A) = 20 = 2 λ₂ λ₃ ⇒ λ₂ λ₃ = 10
and we find λ₂ = 2 and λ₃ = 5.
I'll omit the details for finding the eigenvector associated with λ = 5; I ended up with v = (1, 1, 1)ᵀ.
• For λ = 2,
tells us that if we fix v₃ = 0, then v₁ + v₂ = 0, so that we can pick v₁ = 1 and v₂ = -1. So v = (1, -1, 0)ᵀ.
• For the repeated eigenvalue λ = 2, we find the generalized eigenvector such that (A - 2I)² v = 0.
This time we fix v₂ = 0, so that 3 v₁ + 3 v₃ = 0, and we can pick v₁ = 1 and v₃ = -1. So v = (1, 0, -1)ᵀ.
Then A = PDP⁻¹ if
