Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Identity matrix
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Terminology and notation== The identity matrix is often denoted by <math>I_n</math>, or simply by <math>I</math> if the size is immaterial or can be trivially determined by the context.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Identity matrix: intro to identity matrices (article)| url=https://www.khanacademy.org/math/precalculus/x9e81a4f98389efdf:matrices/x9e81a4f98389efdf:properties-of-matrix-multiplication/a/intro-to-identity-matrices | access-date=2020-08-14| website=Khan Academy| language=en}}</ref> <math display="block"> I_1 = \begin{bmatrix} 1 \end{bmatrix} ,\ I_2 = \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 \end{bmatrix} ,\ I_3 = \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \end{bmatrix} ,\ \dots ,\ I_n = \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 & 0 & \cdots & 0 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 & \cdots & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 & \cdots & 0 \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots & \vdots \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & \cdots & 1 \end{bmatrix}. </math> The term '''unit matrix''' has also been widely used,<ref name=pipes>{{cite book |title=Matrix Methods for Engineering |series=Prentice-Hall International Series in Applied Mathematics |first=Louis Albert |last=Pipes |publisher=Prentice-Hall |year=1963 |page=91 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rJNRAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA91 }}</ref><ref>[[Roger Godement]], ''Algebra'', 1968.</ref><ref>[[ISO 80000-2]]:2009.</ref><ref>[[Ken Stroud]], ''Engineering Mathematics'', 2013.</ref> but the term ''identity matrix'' is now standard.<ref>[[ISO 80000-2]]:2019.</ref> The term ''unit matrix'' is ambiguous, because it is also used for a [[matrix of ones]] and for any [[unit (ring theory)|unit]] of the [[matrix ring|ring of all <math>n\times n</math> matrices]].<ref>{{Cite web| last=Weisstein|first=Eric W.| title=Unit Matrix|url=https://mathworld.wolfram.com/UnitMatrix.html|access-date=2021-05-05| website=mathworld.wolfram.com| language=en}}</ref> In some fields, such as [[group theory]] or [[quantum mechanics]], the identity matrix is sometimes denoted by a boldface one, <math>\mathbf{1}</math>, or called "id" (short for identity). Less frequently, some mathematics books use <math>U</math> or <math>E</math> to represent the identity matrix, standing for "unit matrix"<ref name=pipes /> and the German word {{lang|de|Einheitsmatrix}} respectively.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web| last=Weisstein|first=Eric W.|title=Identity Matrix | url=https://mathworld.wolfram.com/IdentityMatrix.html|access-date=2020-08-14 | website=mathworld.wolfram.com | language=en}}</ref> In terms of a notation that is sometimes used to concisely describe [[diagonal matrix|diagonal matrices]], the identity matrix can be written as <math display=block> I_n = \operatorname{diag}(1, 1, \dots, 1).</math> The identity matrix can also be written using the [[Kronecker delta]] notation:<ref name=":0" /> <math display=block>(I_n)_{ij} = \delta_{ij}.</math>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)