Let $A\in\mathbb R^{n\times n}$ be symmetric but indefinite. Determine an SVD of $A$.

eigenvalues-eigenvectorslinear algebramatricesmatrix decompositionsvd

Note, the post here answered the question that SVD's exists for all matrices. The post did not answer what such one might be for this particular question.

We know that $A$ (in our case) will have positive and negative eigenvalues. In addition, we know that all symmetric matrices can be decomposed by the eigenvector decomposition theorem that is
$$A=Q\Lambda Q^T$$
Where $\Lambda$ is the diagonal matrix matrix containing the eigenvalues for $A$ and $Q$ contains the linearly independent eigenvectors of $A$. Now using this equation, I am unsure how to manipulate it so that
$$A = (\text{"orthogonal matrix"})\Sigma(\text{"orthogonal matrix"}).$$
Note that the "orthogonal matrix" are of compatible size. I was given a hint to find an equation that satifsifes
$$A = (QD^{-1})(D\Lambda)Q^T$$
Where $\Sigma = D\Lambda$? I am not sure though. Any advice is much helpful!

Best Answer

Choose $D$ to be a diagonal matrix whose diagonal elements are either $1$ or $-1$, so that $D\Lambda$ becomes diagonal with nonnegative diagonal entries. $D^{-1}$ will similarly negate the columns of $Q$ corresponding to the negative eigenvalues. Check that $QD^{-1}$ is still orthogonal.

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