+ve Definite Matrix
+ve Definite Matrix
Rajat Mittal
IIT Kanpur
In the last lecture a positive semidefinite matrix was defined as a symmetric matrix with non-negative
eigenvalues. The original definition is that a matrix M ∈ L(V ) is positive semidefinite iff,
1. M is symmetric,
2. v T M v ≥ 0 for all v ∈ V .
If the matrix is symmetric and
v T M v > 0, ∀v ∈ V,
then it is called positive definite. When the matrix satisfies opposite inequality it is called negative definite.
The two definitions for positive semidefinite matrix turn out be equivalent. In the next section, we identify
many different definitions with positive semidefinite matrices.
Define B to be the matrix whose columns are yi . Then it is clear that B T B = M . From this construction,
B’s columns are orthogonal. In general, any matrix of the form B T B is positive semi-definite. The matrix
B need not have orthogonal columns (it can even be rectangular).
But this representation is not unique and there always exists a matrix B with orthogonal columns for
M , s.t., B T B = M . This decomposition is unique if B is positive semidefinite. The positive semidefinite B,
s.t., B T B = M , is called the square root of M .
Exercise 1. Prove that the square root of a matrix is unique.
Hint: Use the spectral decomposition to find one of the square root. Suppose A is any square root of M .
Then use the spectral decomposition of A and show the square root is unique (remember the decomposition
to eigenspaces is unique) .
3 ⇒ 4: We are given a matrix B, s.t., B T B = M . Say the rows of B are u1 , · · · , un . Then, from the
definition of matrix multiplication,
∀i, j; Mi,j = viT vj
Exercise 2. Show that for a positive semidefinite matrix M ∈ L(V ), there exists v1 , · · · , vn ∈ V , s.t, M is a
gram matrix of v1 · · · , vn .
Remark: A matrix M of the form M = i xi xTi is positive semidefinite (Exercise: Prove it), even if xi ’s
P
are not orthogonal to each other.
Remark: A matrix of the form yxT is a rank one matrix. It is rank one because all columns are scalar
multiples of y. Similarly, all rank one matrices can be expressed in this form.
Exercise 4. A rank one matrix yxT is positive semi-definite iff y is a positive scalar multiple of x.
2 Some examples
– An n × n identity matrix is positive semidefinite. It has rank n. All the eigenvalues are 1 and every vector
is an eigenvector. It is the only matrix with all eigenvalues 1 (Prove it).
– The all 1’s matrix J (n × n) is a rank one positive semidefinite matrix. It has one eigenvalue n and rest
are zero.
– The matrix
1 −1
M= ,
−1 1
is positive semidefinite. Because, the quadratic form xT M x = (x1 −x2 )2 , where x1 , x2 are two components
of x.
– Suppose any symmetric matrix M has maximum eigenvalue λ. The matrix λ0 I − M , where λ0 ≥ λ is
positive semidefinite.
2
– The tensor product A ⊗ B is positive semidefinite iff A and B are both positive semidefinite or both
are negative semidefinite. This follows from the fact that given the eigenvalues λ1 , · · · , λn for A and
µ1 , · · · , µm for B; the eigenvalues of A ⊗ B are
∀i, j, λi µj .