Is it true that a matrix is always positive semi-definite if it is positive definite?

58 Views Asked by At

Is it true that a matrix is always positive semi-definite if it is positive definite?

I think it is not true since I saw a counter-example somewhere.

But the terminology 'semi-definite' and 'definite' seems to imply that 'definite' has strong condition, thus being sufficient condition for semi-definiteness.

So I want to know more detailed mathematical explanation for this proposition.

1

There are 1 best solutions below

4
On

Assuming we are operating on the real numbers.

Generally, a matrix $M$ is positive definite if $x^TMx >0$ for any non-zero $x \in \mathbb{R}^n$, and positive semidefinite if $x^TMx \ge 0$ for any non-zero $x \in \mathbb{R}^n$.

Therefore, if a matrix is positive definite, it must be positive semi-definite.

UPDATE

You may be confusing the idea that if something is positive semidefinite, that means there is some $x$ for which $x^T Mx = 0$. That does not have to be. Any matrix where $x^T M x > 0$ is both positive semidefinite and positive definite.