Perron–Frobenius theorem
In linear algebra, the Perron–Frobenius theorem, proved by Oskar Perron (1907) and Georg Frobenius (1912), asserts that a real square matrix with positive entries has a unique largest real eigenvalue and that the corresponding eigenvector can be chosen to have strictly positive components, and also asserts a similar statement for certain classes of nonnegative matrices. This theorem has important applications to probability theory (ergodicity of Markov chains); to the theory of dynamical systems (subshifts of finite type); to economics (Okishio's theorem, Leontief's input-output model); to demography (Leslie population age distribution model), to Internet search engines and even to ranking of football teams. The first to discuss the ordering of players within tournaments using Perron–Frobenius eigenvectors is Edmund Landau.
Let positive and non-negative respectively describe matrices with exclusively positive real numbers as components and matrices with exclusively non-negative real components. The eigenvalues of a real square matrix A are complex numbers that make up the spectrum of the matrix. The exponential growth rate of the matrix powers Ak as k → ∞ is controlled by the eigenvalue of A with the largest absolute value. The Perron–Frobenius theorem describes the properties of the leading eigenvalue and of the corresponding eigenvectors when A is a non-negative real square matrix. Early results were due to Oskar Perron (1907) and concerned positive matrices. Later, Georg Frobenius (1912) found their extension to certain classes of non-negative matrices.
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