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Singular Value Decomposition (SVD)

 


Let's suppose that a matrix A is singular. Then, let A be a real m x n matrix of rank r, with m greater than or equal to n. The Singular Value Decomposition (svd) of A is

A = U S V'

(the apostrophe after a matrix or vector means its transpose) where U is an orthogonal m x n matrix, S is an r x r diagonal matrix, and V is an n x n square orthogonal matrix.

Since U and V are orthogonal, then

UU' = I and VV' = I

That is, the transpose of each matrix is equal to its inverse. The elements along the diagonal of S, labelled sigma i, are called the singular values of A. There are r such singular values and they satisfy 

singular values for svd decomposition

If the matrix A is square, then we can use the singular value decomposition to find the inverse, which is is

A-1 = (USV')-1 = (V')-1S-1U-1 = VS-1U'

since (AB)-1 = B-1A-1UU' = I, and VV' = I

If A is a square matrix then

matrix S for SVD

And so,

inverse of matrix S for SVD

If an SVD of a matrix A can be calculated, so can be its inverse. Therefore, we can find a solution to a system

 Ax = b  => x = A-1b = VS-1U'b

that would otherwise be usolvable.

Example:


Let's find with Matlab the singular value decomposition of

A = [ 0   -1
     -2    1
      1    0]

We simply type:

[U,S,V] = svd(A)

and the above operation produces a diagonal matrix S, of the same dimension as A and with nonnegative diagonal elements in decreasing order, and unitary matrices U and V so that A = U*S*V'.

The Matlab answer is:

U =
   -0.1826   -0.8944    0.4082
    0.9129    0.0000    0.4082
   -0.3651    0.4472    0.8165

S =
    2.4495         0
         0    1.0000
         0         0

V =
   -0.8944    0.4472
    0.4472    0.8944

>>

 
We can confirm the values of UU', VV' and USV, by executing these instructions in Matlab

U*U'
V*V'
U*S*V

The confirming responses are:

 ans =
    1.0000   -0.0000   -0.0000
   -0.0000    1.0000   -0.0000
   -0.0000   -0.0000    1.0000

ans =
     1     0
     0     1

ans =
   -0.0000   -1.0000
   -2.0000    1.0000
    1.0000    0.0000


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