Schur Decomposition of a Matrix --- Generic Function

DESCRIPTION:
Computes the Schur decomposition (including eigenvalues) of a square matrix. In S-PLUS, only one class has a method for this function -- the "Matrix" class from the Matrix library. It is defined as a method to allow users to easily incorporate customized versions into S-PLUS.

USAGE:
schur(x, ...)

REQUIRED ARGUMENTS:
x:
a square matrix. No missing values or IEEE special values are allowed.

OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS:
...:
most methods will have additional arguments, for example an argument indicating whether or not to compute the Schur vectors.

VALUE:
a representation of all or part of the Schur decomposition of x.

BACKGROUND:
If A is a square matrix, then A = Q T t(Q), where Q is orthogonal, and T is upper quasi-triangular (nearly triangular with either 1 by 1 or 2 by 2 blocks on the diagonal). The eigenvalues of A are the same as those of T, which are easy to compute. The Schur form is used most often for computing non-symmetric eigenvalue decompositions, and for computing functions of matrices such as matrix exponentials.

REFERENCES:
Golub, G., and Van Loan, C. F. (1989). Matrix Computations, 2nd edition, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore.

SEE ALSO:
schur.Matrix

EXAMPLES:
library(Matrix)
x <- Matrix( rnorm(9), 3, 3)
schur(x)