Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors of Matrices

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 Determinant
A determinant is a scalar property of square matrices,
denoted det(A) or |A| .
• Think of rows of an n x n matrix as n vectors in Rn.
• The determinant represents the “space contained” by
these vectors.

In this course, we will be working with 2x2 or 3x3 matrices.

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 Determinant (2x2 Matrix)
Consider:

a b
A=
c d
(c, d)
Determinant:
a b |det(A)|
= ad bc
c d
(a, b)
Area of parallelogram (0, 0)
defined by the rows.

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 Example: Determinant (2x2 Matrix)
Consider:

1 3
4 1
Determinant:
1 3
= (1)(1) (3)(4) = 11
4 1

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 Determinant (3x3 Matrix)
Consider:
2 3
a b c
A = 4d e f5
g h i
Determinant: (a, b, c)
a b c |det(A)|
d e f = aei + bf g + cdh
(d, e, f )
g h i
ceg bdi af h (g, h, i)
(0, 0, 0)

Volume of parallelepiped
defined by the rows. 5
 Example: Determinant (3x3 Matrix)
Consider:
2 3
1 2 3
40 4 15
0 3 1
Determinant:
1 2 3
0 4 1
0 3 1
= (1)( 4)( 1) + (2)(1)(0) + (3)(0)(3)
(3)( 4)(0) (2)(0)( 1) (1)(1)(3)
=1
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 Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors
A matrix is a transformation.
y = Ax

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 Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors
Eigenvectors are vectors associated by a square matrix that
do not change in direction when multiplied by the matrix.
Eigenvalues are scalar values representing how much each
eigenvector changes in length.
Av = v

Ab
b
Transform by matrix A
a Aa = 1a

Eigenvector Eigenvalue 8
 Finding Eigenvalues
1. Calculate:
det(A I)
2. Find solutions to:
det(A I) = 0

There will be n eigenvalues for an n x n matrix, but not all

of them have to be distinct or real values.

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 Example: Finding Eigenvalues
Consider: 
2 1
A=
1 2

1. Calculate det(A I)
✓  ◆
2 1 1 0
det(A I) = det
1 2 0 1
✓ ◆
2 1
= det
1 2
= (2 )2 1
2
= 4 +3
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 Example: Finding Eigenvalues
Consider: 
2 1
A=
1 2

2. Find solutions to det(A I) = 0

2
4 +3=0
( 1)( 3) = 0
1 = 1, 2 =3

2 eigenvalues for a 2 x 2 matrix

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 Finding Eigenvectors
1. For each eigenvalue, solve the equation:
Av = v
or:
(A I) v = 0
Notice that if v is an eigenvector, then ↵v is also an
eigenvector, where ↵ is any scalar.
Thus, we typically think about linearly independent
eigenvectors.
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 Eigenvectors
n vectors {v1 , v2 , ..., vn } are linearly independent (LI) if
the only solution to the equation:
a1 v1 + a2 v2 + ... + an vn = 0
is a1 = a2 = ... = an = 0 .

There will be at least one LI eigenvector for each eigenvalue.

If eigenvalues are repeated, there might be multiple LI
eigenvectors for that eigenvalue.
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 Example: Finding Eigenvectors
Consider: 
2 1
A=
1 2

1. For 1 = 1:
(A
✓
1 I) v1
 ◆

2 1 1 0 1
= 1 v1 v1 =

1 2 0 1 1
1 1 
= v 1
1 1 1 v1 = ↵
 1
0
=
0 14