Complex numberIn mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted i, called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation ; every complex number can be expressed in the form , where a and b are real numbers. Because no real number satisfies the above equation, i was called an imaginary number by René Descartes. For the complex number , a is called the , and b is called the . The set of complex numbers is denoted by either of the symbols or C.
Orthogonal matrixIn linear algebra, an orthogonal matrix, or orthonormal matrix, is a real square matrix whose columns and rows are orthonormal vectors. One way to express this is where QT is the transpose of Q and I is the identity matrix. This leads to the equivalent characterization: a matrix Q is orthogonal if its transpose is equal to its inverse: where Q−1 is the inverse of Q. An orthogonal matrix Q is necessarily invertible (with inverse Q−1 = QT), unitary (Q−1 = Q∗), where Q∗ is the Hermitian adjoint (conjugate transpose) of Q, and therefore normal (Q∗Q = QQ∗) over the real numbers.
Symmetric matrixIn linear algebra, a symmetric matrix is a square matrix that is equal to its transpose. Formally, Because equal matrices have equal dimensions, only square matrices can be symmetric. The entries of a symmetric matrix are symmetric with respect to the main diagonal. So if denotes the entry in the th row and th column then for all indices and Every square diagonal matrix is symmetric, since all off-diagonal elements are zero. Similarly in characteristic different from 2, each diagonal element of a skew-symmetric matrix must be zero, since each is its own negative.
Matrix (mathematics)In mathematics, a matrix (plural matrices) is a rectangular array or table of numbers, symbols, or expressions, arranged in rows and columns, which is used to represent a mathematical object or a property of such an object. For example, is a matrix with two rows and three columns. This is often referred to as a "two by three matrix", a " matrix", or a matrix of dimension . Without further specifications, matrices represent linear maps, and allow explicit computations in linear algebra.
Definite matrixIn mathematics, a symmetric matrix with real entries is positive-definite if the real number is positive for every nonzero real column vector where is the transpose of . More generally, a Hermitian matrix (that is, a complex matrix equal to its conjugate transpose) is positive-definite if the real number is positive for every nonzero complex column vector where denotes the conjugate transpose of Positive semi-definite matrices are defined similarly, except that the scalars and are required to be positive or zero (that is, nonnegative).
Square matrixIn mathematics, a square matrix is a matrix with the same number of rows and columns. An n-by-n matrix is known as a square matrix of order . Any two square matrices of the same order can be added and multiplied. Square matrices are often used to represent simple linear transformations, such as shearing or rotation. For example, if is a square matrix representing a rotation (rotation matrix) and is a column vector describing the position of a point in space, the product yields another column vector describing the position of that point after that rotation.
Square root of 2The square root of 2 (approximately 1.4142) is a positive real number that, when multiplied by itself, equals the number 2. It may be written in mathematics as or . It is an algebraic number, and therefore not a transcendental number. Technically, it should be called the principal square root of 2, to distinguish it from the negative number with the same property. Geometrically, the square root of 2 is the length of a diagonal across a square with sides of one unit of length; this follows from the Pythagorean theorem.
Hermitian matrixIn mathematics, a Hermitian matrix (or self-adjoint matrix) is a complex square matrix that is equal to its own conjugate transpose—that is, the element in the i-th row and j-th column is equal to the complex conjugate of the element in the j-th row and i-th column, for all indices i and j: or in matrix form: Hermitian matrices can be understood as the complex extension of real symmetric matrices.
Matrix decompositionIn the mathematical discipline of linear algebra, a matrix decomposition or matrix factorization is a factorization of a matrix into a product of matrices. There are many different matrix decompositions; each finds use among a particular class of problems. In numerical analysis, different decompositions are used to implement efficient matrix algorithms. For instance, when solving a system of linear equations , the matrix A can be decomposed via the LU decomposition.
Square rootIn mathematics, a square root of a number x is a number y such that ; in other words, a number y whose square (the result of multiplying the number by itself, or ) is x. For example, 4 and −4 are square roots of 16 because . Every nonnegative real number x has a unique nonnegative square root, called the principal square root, which is denoted by where the symbol "" is called the radical sign or radix. For example, to express the fact that the principal square root of 9 is 3, we write .