Wilkinson matrix

Short description: Numerical lineral algebra

In linear algebra, Wilkinson matrices are symmetric, tridiagonal, order-N matrices with pairs of nearly, but not exactly, equal eigenvalues. It is named after the British mathematician James H. Wilkinson. For N = 7, the Wilkinson matrix is given by

[math]\displaystyle{ \begin{bmatrix} 3 & 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 1 & 2 & 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 2 & 1 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 3 \\ \end{bmatrix}. }[/math]

Wilkinson matrices have applications in many fields, including scientific computing, numerical linear algebra, and signal processing.