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Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors: Applications
(Chapter 8 of Kreyszig)
©Malay K. Das, mkdas@iitk.ac.in
Eigenvalue Problem
Predator prey model
Predator population in year i
xi 1 0.86 0.08 xi Prey population in year i x0 200 xn
y 0.12 1.14 y y 100 y ?
0 n
i 1 i
xn n x0
Incidentally, the initial vector y 0.9 y
is an eigenvector n 0
But what happens if the initial state is NOT an eigenvector?
Malay K. Das
ME, IIT Kanpur 1
13‐09‐2020
Predator prey model
xi 1 0.86 0.08 xi xn
y 0.12 1.14 y y ?
i 1 i n
How to proceed now?
for eigenvectors
0.86 0.08
A eigenvalues
0.12 1.14
for some scalars a , b
we are ready to go ahead
0.86 0.08
A
Predator prey model 0.12 1.14
Thus In long time, the second term will be
negligibly small since
Eigenvectors provide us good basis to work with
For being good basis, eigenvectors should be linearly independent
Malay K. Das
ME, IIT Kanpur 2
13‐09‐2020
Distinct eigenvalues lead to linearly independent eigenvectors
for
since are linearly independent
since
since
are linearly independent
We may proceed to show that all eigenvectors The reverse may not be
are linearly independent true (ex‐ I matrix)
o Eigenvalues of a triangular matrix are the diagonal elements
o A matrix with repeated eigenvalue(s) is called ‘defective matrix’
Exercise
Find the physical significance of 0 2 0 2
A B
eigenvalues/eigenvectors of 2 0 2 0
Malay K. Das
ME, IIT Kanpur 3