Nine · Systems of Ordinary Differential Equations 401

> solve(eqs_1 ) ;

xl = xl,yl = -jcl

Therefore, if Xi is any real number, then ^ 3 ^ ^ is an eigenvector. In particular, if Xi = 2 , then j

is an eigenvector of A = with corresponding eigenvalue λ = - 5 . Similarly, if we let

denote the eigenvector corresponding to λ = 2, then • ^ ~ ^( o l ) ( y ^ ) ^ ^'

which yields the system · ~ 9y2 = 0 '

> step_1 :=evalm((A-2*Id)8*CCx2:,Cy2:D):

eqs_2:=equate(step_1);
eqs^2 : = {2x2 - 6y2 = 0,3x2 - 9y2 = 0 }

> solve(eqs_2);
{x2 = 3y2,y2 = y2}

Thus, y2 = ^ X 2 . If Xl = 3, then is an eigenvector of A = with corresponding

eigenvalue λ = 2.
Note that the conunands e i g e n v a l s and e i g e n v e c t s , both contained in the l i n a l g
package, can be used to compute the exact value of the eigenvalues and corresponding eigen­
vectors, when possible. Thus, entering

> eigenvals(A);

2,-5

returns the eigenvalues of A, and entering

4
> eigenvects(A);

-5,1,^ , [ 2 , 1 , {[3,1]}]

returns the eigenvalues and corresponding eigenvectors.