Special software is required to use some of the files in this section: .jar, .swf.

The flash animations were developed by Jean-Michel Claus (with voiceover by Gilbert Strang). We are grateful! Funding was provided by a grant from the The d'Arbeloff Fund for Excellence in MIT Education as part of The d'Arbeloff Interactive Mathematics Project (d'A I M P).

Eigenvalue Demonstrations

The demonstrations below employ Java® applets with voice-over narration to show some Eigenvalue concepts.

Demo #1 - This 3-minute demo shows eigenvectors of 2 by 2 matrices

The demo is also broken into 7 independent pieces:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6
• Part 7

Demo #2 - Powers AⁿV lead toward the top eigenvalue/eigenvector

Mini-lectures on Eigenvalues

The mini-lectures with voice-over narration below help to explain some key Eigenvalue concepts.

Full Lecture (all eight together)

Or view individually (about 2 minutes each)

• det(A-\lambda I)=0
• Eigenvectors and Trace
• Powers
• Diagonalization
• Differential Equations
• Symmetry
• Positive Definite
• SVD