Skip to main content
1 of 3
Iosif Pinelis
  • 127.7k
  • 8
  • 107
  • 229

$\newcommand\la\lambda\newcommand\La\Lambda$

Given a square matrix $M$ of size $n\times n$, find a matrix $V$ of size $n\times 2$ and a matrix $\Lambda$ of size $2\times 2$ such that $$ MV = V\Lambda. $$

There may be many such matrices, even with the additional condition that $\La$ be diagonal. E.g., if $u$ and $w$ are eigenvectors of $M$ with the corresponding eigenvalues $\la$ and $\mu$, $V$ is the $n\times2$ matrix with columns $u$ and $w$, and $\La$ is the diagonal matrix with $\la$ and $\mu$ on the diagonal, then $MV=V\La$ will hold.

Iosif Pinelis
  • 127.7k
  • 8
  • 107
  • 229