Why is the matrix of eigenvectors orthogonal?
Daniel Lopez
Updated on March 01, 2026
A matrix P is called orthogonal if its columns form an orthonormal set and call a matrix A orthogonally
diagonalizable
Geometrically, a diagonalizable matrix is an inhomogeneous dilation (or anisotropic scaling) — it scales the space, as does a homogeneous dilation, but by a different factor along each eigenvector axis, the factor given by the corresponding eigenvalue. A square matrix that is not diagonalizable is called defective.
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orthogonal matrix
In linear algebra, an orthogonal matrix, or orthonormal matrix, is a real square matrix whose columns and rows are orthonormal vectors. where QT is the transpose of Q and I is the identity matrix.
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