Conjugate Transpose - Basic Remarks

Basic Remarks

A square matrix A with entries is called

  • Hermitian or self-adjoint if A = A*, i.e., .
  • skew Hermitian or antihermitian if A = −A*, i.e., .
  • normal if A*A = AA*.
  • unitary if A* = A-1.

Even if A is not square, the two matrices A*A and AA* are both Hermitian and in fact positive semi-definite matrices.

The conjugate transpose "adjoint" matrix A* should not be confused with the adjugate adj(A), which is also sometimes called "adjoint".

Finding the conjugate transpose of a matrix A with real entries reduces to finding the transpose of A, as the conjugate of a real number is the number itself.

Read more about this topic:  Conjugate Transpose

Famous quotes containing the words basic and/or remarks:

    Mental health depends upon the maintenance of a balance within the personality between the basic human urges and egocentric wishes on the one hand and the demands of conscience and society on the other hand.
    Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)

    Where do whites fit in the New Africa? Nowhere, I’m inclined to say ... and I do believe that it is true that even the gentlest and most westernised Africans would like the emotional idea of the continent entirely without the complication of the presence of the white man for a generation or two. But nowhere, as an answer for us whites, is in the same category as remarks like What’s the use of living? in the face of the threat of atomic radiation. We are living; we are in Africa.
    Nadine Gordimer (b. 1923)