The Jordan forms of AB and BA

Main Article Content

Ross A. Lippert
Gilbert Strang

Abstract

The relationship between the Jordan forms of the matrix products AB and BA for some given A and B was first described by Harley Flanders in 1951. Their non-zero eigenvalues and non-singular Jordan structures are the same, but their singular Jordan block sizes can differ by 1. We present an elementary proof that owes its simplicity to a novel use of the Weyr characteristic.

Article Details

Section
Article