Can we neglect matrices with smaller eigenvalues in comparison to ones with larger eigenvalues?

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Can two matrices be compared as being "small" and "large"? For example, consider matrix $X=X(t)$ as a function of parameter $t$ (say for time), such that \begin{equation} \frac{d X}{dt} = YX^2 + Z \end{equation} for some constant matrices $Y$ and $Z$. Under what conditions can one neglect matrix $Z$ in this equation?