If your not serious dont answer.

matrix A = [ -1 4 ] <---- row one -1 and 4
-----------[ -6 1 ] <---- row two -6 and 1

has to complex eigenvalues


LAMBDA 1,2 = a +- bi

(+- means plus or minus)


what are the values of a and b?? thanks

There was a reason I stopped after differential equations. And a better reason why I dropped out of partials (partial differential equations)

can't you just do row reduced echelon form and find the values for a and b? or can that only be done for matrices in 3d systems? (sorry, the last algebra i took was ALGEO in highschool)

___________________
cheers

I believe you find the determinant of that matrix (with the lambdas), set it equal to 0 and find the roots for that equation. The roots will be your eigenvalues.

So essentially, your equation comes down to:
(lambda+1)(lambda-1)+24=0

which simplifies to:
lambda^2-lambda+lambda-1+24=0

which equals to:
lambda^2+23=0

or:
lambda^2=-23

solve for lambda, and that is your answer.

Last edited by criticalpath on Nov-04-2004 at 03:21