LU DECOMPOSITION

Civil Engineering Department

METHOD/ CROUT’S
METHOD/
College of Engineering

CHOLESKEY’S
METHOD
Contents
• Introduction
LU DECOMPOSITION METHOD Choleskey’s Method, also known as Crout’s Method or LU
Decomposition Method, is a method of matrix decomposition and
factorization.

Illustration:

Given is a set of simultaneous linear algebraic equations:

a11X1 + a12X2 + a13X3 = C1
a21X1 + a22X2 + a23X3 = C2 --------1
a31X1 + a32X2 + a33X3 = C3

This is represented by the matrix equation

a 11 a 12 a 13 X1 C1
a 21 a 22 a 23 X2 = C2
---------2
a 31 a 32 a 33 X3 C3
 If we let A represent the coefficient matrix, X the
LU DECOMPOSITION METHOD column matrix of the unknowns, and C the column
matrix of the constants, equation 2 can be replaced by:

A X – C =0 ----3

If we could reduce the system of equations into an

equivalent system of the form

1 u 12 u 13 X1 d1
0 1 u 23 X2 = d2 -------4
0 0 1 X3 d3
 Equation 4 can be easily solved by back substitution as
LU DECOMPOSITION METHOD discussed in Gaussian Elimination Method. The upper unit
triangular matrix of equation 4 will be represented by uij and
equation 4 can be written as
U X – D =0 ----5
Suppose there exists a lower triangular matrix
l11 0 0
l21 l22 0
l31 l32 l33

which will be represented by L and has the following

property:
“When we multiply the left side of equation 5 by L, it will
give us the left side of equation 3”.
 In accordance with the given property of L, we have:
LU DECOMPOSITION METHOD
L U X - D = A X - C

Therefore:
LU = A -------6
and L D = C -------7

Equation 6 and 7 may be combined into a single matrix

equation

l11 0 0 1 u12 u13 l d1 a 11 a 12 a 13 l C1

l21 l22 0 0 1 u23 l d2 = a 21 a 22 a 23 l C2
l31 l32 l33 0 0 1 l d3 a 31 a 32 a 33 l C3
 For the sake of convenience, the d’s will be represented by
ui4 and the C’s will be represented by ai4
LU DECOMPOSITION METHOD

l11 0 0 1 u12 u13 u14 a11 a12 a13 a14

l21 l22 0 0 1 u23 u24 = a21 a22 a23 a24
----8
l31 l32 l33 0 0 1 u34 a31 a32 a33 a34

The lij and uij elements may be determined from equation 8.

The augmented U matrix of equation 8 is the augmented
matrix of the equivalent triangular set given by equation 4.
Therefore, with the uij determined, the unknown X may be
determined by back substitution.
LU DECOMPOSITION METHOD MATRIX MULTIPLICATION:
1. Note that the first column of the matrix L is equal to the
first column of the augmented matrix A.

li1 = ai1

l11 (1) + 0 (0) + 0 (0) = a11 l11 = a11

l21 (1) + l22(0) + 0 (0) = a21 l21 = a21
l31 (1) + l32(0) + l33 (0) = a31 l31 = a31

We also note that:

l11 (u12) + 0 (1) + 0 (0) = a12 u12 = a12 / l11
l11 (u13) + 0 (u23) + 0 (1) = a13 u13 = a13 / l11
l11 (u14) + 0 (u24) + 0 (u34) = a14 u14 = a14 / l11
 The first row of the U is equal to the first row of the
LU DECOMPOSITION METHOD augmented A matrix divided by l11 (or a11).
uij = aij / l11

2. After determining the 1st column of L and the 1st row of

U, we can now proceed in determining the 2nd column
of L, followed by the 2nd row of U.
l21 (u12) + l22 (1) + 0 (0) = a22
l31 (u12) + l32 (1) + l33 (0) = a32

For which we obtain

l22 = a22 - l21 (u12)
l32 = a32 - l31 (u12)
LU DECOMPOSITION METHOD Also,
l21 (u13) + l22 (u23) + 0 (1) = a23
l21 (u14) + l22 (u24) + 0 (u34) = a24
Or
 u23 = a23 - l21 (u13) / l22

 u24 = a24 - l21 (u14) / l22

3. Now we can determine the 3rd column of L and the 3rd

row of U.
l31 (u13) + l32 (u23) + l33 (1) = a33

 l33 = a33 - l31 (u13) + l32 (u23)

 l31 (u14) + l32 (u24) + l33 (u34) = a34
LU DECOMPOSITION METHOD
 u34 = a34 - l31 (u14) + l32 (u24) / l33

In general, the equation for the elements of L and the

augmented U matrix for “n” number of equations in “n”
unknowns is:

1. lij = aij for i = 1, 2, . . . . n

j=1
1. A
2. uij = aij / lii for i=1
j = i + 1, i + 2, . . i + n
 3. when j < i
Systems of Linear Equations
for j = 2, 3 . . . . n
i = j, i +1, . . . . . n (for each value of i)

4. when i < j
u
for i = 2, 3 . . . . n
j = i +1, i + 2,. . . i + n (for each value of j)