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EigenvectorsWolfram Mathematica 9 Documentation

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Mathematica > M athematic s and A lgorithms > M atric es and L inear A lgebra > M atrix O perations > E igenvec tors
Mathematica > M athematic s and A lgorithms > G raphs & N etworks > G raph P rogramming > M atric es and L inear A lgebra > M atrix O perations >
E igenvec tors
Mathematica > V is ualization and G raphic s > G raphs & N etworks > G raph P rogramming > M atric es and L inear A lgebra > M atrix O perations >
E igenvec tors

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Eigenvectors
Eigenvectors[m]
gives a list of the eigenvectors of the square matrix

m.

Eigenvectors[{m, a}]
gives the generalized eigenvectors of

m with respect to a.

Eigenvectors[m, k ]
gives the first

eigenvectors of

m.

Eigenvectors[{m, a}, k ]
gives the first

generalized eigenvectors.

Details and Options

Eigenvectorsfinds numerical eigenvectors if m contains approximate real or complex numbers.
For approximate numerical matrices

m, the

eigenvectors are normalized.

Eigenvectors corresponding to degenerate eigenvalues are chosen to be linearly independent.

For an

n n matrix, Eigenvectorsalways

returns a list of length

n. The

list contains each of the

independent eigenvectors of the matrix, followed if necessary by an appropriate number of vectors of

zeros.
Eigenvectors with numeric eigenvalues are sorted in order of decreasing absolute value of their
eigenvalues.

Eigenvectors[m, ZeroTest->test]applies test to determine whether expressions should be

assumed to be zero. The default setting is ZeroTest->Automatic.
Eigenvectors[m, spec]is equivalent to Take[Eigenvectors[m], spec].
The option settings Cubics->Trueand Quartics->Truecan be used to specify that explicit radicals
should be generated for all cubics and quartics.

SparseArrayobjects can be used in Eigenvectors.

Examples

open all

Basic Examples (3)

Symbolic eigenvectors:
I n[1 ]:=
O ut[1 ]=

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Exact eigenvectors:
I n[1 ]:=
O ut[1 ]=

Numerical value:
I n[2 ]:=
O ut[2 ]=

Eigenvectors computed using numerical methods:

I n[1 ]:=
O ut[1 ]=

Scope (4)
Eigenvectors computed using numerical methods with 20-digit precision:
I n[1 ]:=
O ut[1 ]=

A Hilbert matrix:
I n[1 ]:=

Eigenvectors corresponding to the eigenvalues with smallest magnitude:

I n[2 ]:=
O ut[2 ]=

The corresponding eigenvalues:

I n[3 ]:=
O ut[3 ]=

Zero vectors are used when there are more eigenvalues than independent eigenvectors:
I n[1 ]:=
O ut[1 ]=

C ompute generalized eigenvectors:

I n[1 ]:=
O ut[1 ]=

Generalizations & Extensions (2)

Sparse Arrays (2)
A block diagonal matrix:
I n[1 ]:=

O ut[1 ]=

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C ompute the eigenvectors:

I n[2 ]:=
O ut[2 ]=

A tridiagonal matrix:
I n[1 ]:=

The eigenvectors corresponding to the three largest eigenvalues:

I n[2 ]:=
O ut[2 ]=

Applications (2)
The eigenvectors of a 33 matrix

m:

I n[1 ]:=

Diagonalize

m:

I n[2 ]:=
O ut[2 ]=

The eigenvalues of a nondiagonalizable matrix:

I n[1 ]:=

O ut[1 ]=

Find the dimension of the span of all the eigenvectors:

I n[2 ]:=
O ut[2 ]=

Estimate the probability that a random 44 matrix of ones and zeros is not diagonalizable:
I n[3 ]:=

O ut[3 ]=

Properties & Relations (2)

C ompute the eigenvectors for a random symmetric matrix:
I n[1 ]:=

The numerical eigenvectors are orthonormal to the precision of the computation:

I n[2 ]:=
O ut[2 ]=

Diagonalization of the matrix r:

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I n[3 ]:=

The diagonal elements are essentially the same as the eigenvalues:

I n[4 ]:=
O ut[4 ]=

The first eigenvector of a random matrix:

I n[1 ]:=

The position of the largest component in

v:

I n[2 ]:=
O ut[2 ]=

C ompute the eigenvalue corresponding to eigenvector

v:

I n[3 ]:=
O ut[3 ]=

Possible Issues (3)

The general symbolic case quickly gets very complicated:
I n[1 ]:=
O ut[1 ]=

I n[2 ]:=
O ut[2 ]=

The expression sizes increase faster than exponentially:

I n[3 ]:=
O ut[3 ]=

C onstruct a 10,00010,000 sparse matrix:

I n[1 ]:=

I n[2 ]:=
O ut[2 ]=

The eigenvector matrix is a dense matrix, and too large to represent:

I n[3 ]:=

O ut[3 ]=

C omputing the few eigenvectors corresponding to the largest eigenvalues is much easier:
I n[4 ]:=

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O ut[4 ]=

When eigenvalues are closely grouped, the iterative method for sparse matrices may not
converge:
I n[1 ]:=

The iteration has not converged well after 1000 iterations:

I n[2 ]:=

O ut[2 ]=

You can give the algorithm a shift near an expected eigenvalue to speed up convergence:
I n[3 ]:=
O ut[3 ]=

Neat Examples (1)

The first four eigenvectors of a banded matrix:
I n[1 ]:=

A plot of the first four eigenvectors:

I n[2 ]:=

O ut[2 ]=

Top

See Also
NullSpace

Eigenvalues

Eigensystem

Tutorials
Vectors and Matrices
Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors

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Related Guides
Graph Programming
Matrix Operations

Related Links
Demonstrations with Eigenvectors (Wolfram Demonstrations Project)

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