Scribd
Upload
5 views4 pages

Jordan Form Explanation 2

The document provides an intuitive explanation of Jordan Form for a 6x6 matrix A with two eigenvalues, λ1 and λ2, where λ1 has an algebraic multiplicity of 5 and λ2 has a multiplicity of 1. It details the process of determining Jordan blocks based on the nullity and geometric multiplicity of the eigenvalues, resulting in a specific Jordan form matrix J. The document includes visual aids and a structured approach to understanding the relationship between eigenvalues and their corresponding Jordan blocks.

Uploaded by

ibrahim.emreaslan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
5 views4 pages

Jordan Form Explanation 2

The document provides an intuitive explanation of Jordan Form for a 6x6 matrix A with two eigenvalues, λ1 and λ2, where λ1 has an algebraic multiplicity of 5 and λ2 has a multiplicity of 1. It details the process of determining Jordan blocks based on the nullity and geometric multiplicity of the eigenvalues, resulting in a specific Jordan form matrix J. The document includes visual aids and a structured approach to understanding the relationship between eigenvalues and their corresponding Jordan blocks.

Uploaded by

ibrahim.emreaslan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

An Informal but Intuitive Explanation of

Jordan Form

By Asst.Prof.Dr. Aykut Yıldız1

1 Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, TED University

Linear System Theory,


SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

1/4
AN INFORMAL BUT INTUITIVE EXPLANATION OF JORDAN FORM

Figure 1: Tree structure for visualization of Jordan Form of A

Let A be a 6x6 matrix whose Jordan Form is of interest. Suppose that we have
computed the eigenvalues of A using det(sI − A) = 0. Assume that there are two
eigenvalues, λ1 and λ2 . Further assume that the algebraic multiplicity of λ1 is 5 and
the algebraic multiplicity of λ2 is 1. This amounts to p(s) = (s − 1)5 (s − 5) where p(s)
is the characteristic polynomial. Since there are two distinct eigenvalues, there are two
“Jordan block groups” as shown in Fig.1. 2/4
As a first step to obtain the simple eigenvectors corresponding
to λ1 = 1, let us compute the nullity corresponding to λ1 ,i.e.
dim[N(λ1 I − A)]. Assume that this nullity turned out be 3.
Assume that the simple eigenvectors corresponding to the
nullity of λ1 are denoted by v111 , v121 , and v131 . Since 3 simple
eigenvectors emerge for λ1 , there are 3 Jordan blocks for λ1 .
Equivalently, the geometric multiplicity of λ1 is 3. Since the
algebraic multiplicity of λ1 is 5, there are a total of 5 LI
eigenvectors corresponding to λ1 . We have already obtained 3
eigenvectors. We should produce two additional generalized
eigenvectors to complete the whole set of 5 LI eigenvectors.
These 2 generalized eigenvectors can be produced by any of
the 3 simple eigenvectors corresponding to λ1 . Assume that
one of them has been produced by v111 and the other has been
produced by v121 . Let v112 denote the generalized eigenvector
corresponding to v111 and v122 denote the generalized
eigenvector corresponding to v121 .
3/4
Since the “first eigenvector group” of λ1 has a total number of 2
eigenvectors, the size of the corresponding Jordan block has a
size of 2. The size of the Jordan block of “second eigenvector
group” is also 2 for the same reason. Since the “third
eigenvector” group has one eigenvector, the size of the
corresponding Jordan block is 1. Thus, we have obtained all 3
Jordan blocks of λ1 . Since the algebraic multiplicity of λ2 is 1,
the size of the corresponding Jordan block is also 1. The tree
structure corresponding to this Jordan form is shown in Fig. 1.
The resulting Jordan form denoted by J is as indicated below.
 
1 1 0 0 0 0
 0 1 0 0 0 0 
 
 0 0 1 1 0 0 
J=   (1)
 0 0 0 1 0 0 

 0 0 0 0 1 0 
0 0 0 0 0 5
4/4

You might also like