Pentadiagonal matrix

In linear algebra, a pentadiagonal matrix is a matrix that is nearly diagonal; to be exact, it is a matrix in which the only nonzero entries are on the main diagonal, and the first two diagonals above and below it. So it is of the form

${\begin{pmatrix}c_{1}&d_{1}&e_{1}&0&\cdots &\cdots &0\\b_{1}&c_{2}&d_{2}&e_{2}&\ddots &&\vdots \\a_{1}&b_{2}&\ddots &\ddots &\ddots &\ddots &\vdots \\0&a_{2}&\ddots &\ddots &\ddots &e_{n-3}&0\\\vdots &\ddots &\ddots &\ddots &\ddots &d_{n-2}&e_{n-2}\\\vdots &&\ddots &a_{n-3}&b_{n-2}&c_{n-1}&d_{n-1}\\0&\cdots &\cdots &0&a_{n-2}&b_{n-1}&c_{n}\end{pmatrix}}.$

It follows that a pentadiagonal matrix has at most $5n-6$ nonzero entries, where n is the size of the matrix. Hence, pentadiagonal matrices are sparse. This makes them useful in numerical analysis.

See also

• tridiagonal matrix
• heptadiagonal matrix

This article incorporates material from Pentadiagonal matrix on PlanetMath, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.