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Given a n-by-n matrix $\mathbf{\phi}$ and a vector $\mathbf{X}$, solve for the two vectors $\mathbf{\Phi}$ and $\mathbf{\Omega}$ that satisfy:

$$ \Phi_i = \sum_{l} \frac{\phi_{il}X_l}{\Omega_l} $$

$$ \Omega_j = \sum_{l} \frac{\phi_{lj}X_l}{\Phi_l} $$

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  • $\begingroup$ Why? See mathoverflow.net/howtoask $\endgroup$
    – Yemon Choi
    Commented Jun 19, 2013 at 20:37
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    $\begingroup$ Sorry, I'm new to this place! I encountered this system in my research in economics. I found several papers claiming that this system is solvable, but none of them state how they are solved. I have very little knowledge of linear algebra, so my own attempts at solving this have failed. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated! $\endgroup$
    – Ken
    Commented Jun 19, 2013 at 20:51
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    $\begingroup$ Can you please post a reference to these papers? $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 19, 2013 at 22:00

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If $\Omega, \Phi$ are a solution then $t\Omega,t^{-1}\Phi$ is also a solution, for any real $t\ne0$, so (this is not a linear system and) solutions are not unique. Eliminating the $t$ suggests looking at the products $\Omega_i\Phi_i$. Take the case where all coordinates of $X$ are nonzero and the eigenvalues of $\phi$ are known. The following method will find
any solution for which $\Omega_i\Phi_i = \lambda X_i$, if they exist. I don't know whether other types may exist.

For any vectors $a$ and $b$ I'll use the matlab notation $a.*b$ and $a./b$ for vectors with coordinates $a_ib_i$ and $a_i/b_i$. Your system says $$ \Phi = \phi(X./\Omega), \qquad \Omega = \phi^T(X./\Phi). $$ Denote $u=X./\Omega$ and $v=X./\Phi$, choose an eigenvalue $\lambda$ of $\phi$, and solve for eigenvectors $$ \phi u = \lambda u, \qquad \phi^T v = \lambda v. $$ Then examine $u.*v$. If $u.*v$ is proportional to $X$, rescale $u$ so that $$ \lambda u.*v = X,$$ and you have found a solution $\Omega = X./u, \Phi = X./v$. If not, try another eigenvalue $\lambda$.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you very much for your help; however, it appears that this is not the method used to obtain the solution. This paper (www2.bc.edu/james-anderson/IncidenceGeog.pdf, p. 5. Different notation is used here.) mentions a normalization, and then if I'm not mistaken some iterative process. In any case, I think the process requires an additional assumption, so I'm not sure if your method is "valid". But thanks again! $\endgroup$
    – Ken
    Commented Jun 21, 2013 at 1:44

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