The Bauer-Fike theorem
Statement
Let with and let (operator -norm). Show that every eigenvalue of satisfies
Hint
If is not an eigenvalue of , write in the basis and isolate .
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Solution
Trivial case. If the left side is and there is nothing to prove. Assume , so is invertible.
Reformulation. Let with . Then . Substituting and :
Inverting .
Take norms and use submultiplicativity:
Conclusion. Dividing by gives . For a diagonal matrix, . Therefore
Example. has eigenvectors with (nearly parallel eigenvectors), so a perturbation of size can move the eigenvalues by about when : the bound is quantitatively sharp as approaches a Jordan block.
Remark. The theorem quantifies how ill-conditioned the eigenvalues of a nearly non-diagonalisable matrix are, and recovers the Hölder phenomenon of the Jordan block ().