Formulas

Author

Salman Ahmadi-Asl

Published

January 29, 2026

Elementary Matrices

  • Inverse of Row Swap:
  • Inverse of Row Scaling:
  • Inverse of Row Addition:
  • Determinant of Row Swap:
  • Determinant of Row Scaling:
  • Determinant of Row Addition:
  • Invertible Matrix Factorization: , so

LU Decomposition

  • LU Decomposition: ( unit lower triangular, upper triangular)
  • Existence Condition: All leading principal minors
  • LU with Partial Pivoting: (exists for any invertible )
  • LU with Complete Pivoting: (exists for any matrix )
  • LU Factorization Cost: flops
  • Forward/Back Substitution Cost: flops per solve

Triangular System Solving

  • Forward Substitution:
  • Back Substitution:

LDU and Special Decompositions

  • LDU Decomposition: where ,
  • Symmetric LDU: (when )
  • Cholesky Decomposition: (when is symmetric positive definite, has positive diagonal)
  • Cholesky Cost: flops

Positive Definiteness

  • Sylvester’s Criterion: Symmetric is positive definite iff all leading principal minors

Determinant with Pivoting

  • Row Swap Effect:
  • Column Swap Effect:
  • From :

Matrix Inversion

  • 2x2 Inverse:
  • Transpose of Inverse:

Inner Products and Norms

  • Dot Product (Inner Product in ):
  • Vector Magnitude (Norm):
  • Unit Vector: (for )
  • Orthogonality Condition: if and only if

Orthogonal Projections

  • Projection of onto :
  • Orthogonal Component: is orthogonal to
  • Orthonormal Set Property:

Gram-Schmidt Orthogonalization

  • General Step ():
  • First Vector: ,
  • Second Vector: ,

QR Decomposition

  • QR Factorization: where (orthonormal columns) and is upper triangular
  • Computing R:
  • Dimension of Q: matrix ( rows, orthonormal columns)
  • Dimension of R: upper triangular matrix with positive diagonal entries

Subspaces and Spaces

  • Column Space (): Span of columns of ; subspace of for
  • Null Space (): ; subspace of
  • Complete Solution: where is a particular solution and

Least Squares

  • Normal Equations:
  • Least-Squares Solution (full column rank):
  • Pseudoinverse:
  • QR Least-Squares System: (solved by back substitution)

Projection Matrices

  • Projection onto :
  • Projection Matrix: (projects onto )
  • Projection onto a Line (spanned by ):
  • Projection Matrix Properties: (idempotent), (symmetric)
  • Complementary Projection: projects onto

Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors

  • Eigenvalue-Eigenvector Relationship: (defining equation)
  • Characteristic Equation: (equation whose roots are eigenvalues)
  • Finding Eigenvectors: (solve this homogeneous system for each eigenvalue)
  • Trace Property: (sum of eigenvalues equals trace)
  • Determinant Property: (product of eigenvalues equals determinant)
  • Diagonalization: where (columns are eigenvectors) and (diagonal matrix of eigenvalues)
  • Powers via Diagonalization: where
  • Inverse via Diagonalization: where (valid if is invertible)
  • Eigenvalues of Triangular Matrices: If is upper or lower triangular, then eigenvalues are the diagonal entries
  • Eigenvalue of Matrix Power: If is an eigenvalue of , then is an eigenvalue of
  • Eigenvalue of Inverse: If is an eigenvalue of an invertible matrix , then is an eigenvalue of
  • Linear Independence of Eigenvectors: Eigenvectors corresponding to distinct eigenvalues are linearly independent
  • Cayley-Hamilton Theorem: where is the characteristic polynomial
  • Spectral Mapping Theorem: If has eigenvalues and is a polynomial, then has eigenvalues
  • Eigenvalues of Symmetric Matrices: If (real symmetric), then all eigenvalues are real numbers
  • Orthogonality of Eigenvectors: For real symmetric , eigenvectors corresponding to distinct eigenvalues are orthogonal
  • Spectral Decomposition (Symmetric): where is orthogonal and is diagonal (eigenvalues on diagonal, columns of are orthonormal eigenvectors)

Similar Matrices

  • Similarity Definition: for some invertible matrix ; is similar to
  • Powers of Similar Matrix: If , then
  • Invariants Under Similarity: Similar matrices share the same determinant, trace, characteristic polynomial, and eigenvalues
  • Similarity and Diagonalization: is diagonalizable iff is similar to a diagonal matrix
  • Simultaneous Diagonalization: Matrices and are simultaneously diagonalizable iff (they commute) and both are individually diagonalizable

Complex Numbers

  • Standard Form: where , ,
  • Complex Conjugate: ; properties: , ,
  • Modulus:
  • Polar Form: where ,
  • Euler’s Formula:
  • Product in Polar Form: (multiply moduli, add arguments)
  • De Moivre’s Formula:

Complex Inner Product

  • Hermitian Inner Product in :
  • Norm in :
  • Conjugate Symmetry:
  • Positive Definiteness: , with equality iff
  • Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality:

Conjugate Transpose

  • Definition: ; equivalently
  • Properties: , , ,
  • Inner Product via Matrix Multiply:

Hermitian and Unitary Matrices

  • Hermitian Matrix: (generalizes real symmetric matrices to )
  • Hermitian Eigenvalues: All eigenvalues of a Hermitian matrix are real
  • Hermitian Eigenvectors: Eigenvectors of a Hermitian matrix for distinct eigenvalues are orthogonal (w.r.t. Hermitian inner product)
  • Unitary Matrix: (equivalently ; generalizes real orthogonal matrices)
  • Unitary Preservation: and for all
  • Unitary Eigenvalues: All eigenvalues of a unitary matrix lie on the unit circle ()
  • Unitary Determinant:
  • Normal Matrix: (includes Hermitian and unitary matrices as special cases)
  • Spectral Theorem (Complex): Every Hermitian matrix (and more generally every normal matrix) is unitarily diagonalizable: where is unitary and is diagonal with real entries (for Hermitian )
  • Spectral Decomposition: where are orthonormal eigenvectors
  • Four Fundamental Subspaces (Complex): , , , ; uses in place of