Writing nonlinear ODE in matrix form

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I want to obtain the eigenvalues of the following nonlinear system

${\displaystyle {\dot {x}}_{1}(t)=x_{2}(t)}$

$ {\displaystyle{\dot {x}}_{2}(t)=-{\frac {g}{\ell }}\sin {x_{1}}(t)-{\frac {k}{m\ell }}{x_{2}}(t)}$

I have tried to convert to matrix form in order to find $A-I\lambda$

$A= [0, 1$

$-g/l\sin(x_1), -k/ml]$

But this doesn't seem right due to he sin term still being present, any advice?

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Normally what you do is to linearize the system about an equilibrium point, and then calculate eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Here, our vector field is $F: \Bbb{R}^2 \to \Bbb{R}^2$, defined by \begin{align} F(x_1,x_2) = \left(x_2, \, -\frac{g}{l} \sin(x_1) - \frac{k}{ml}x_2 \right). \end{align} An equilibrium point is one where $F$ vanishes. It is easy to see that $F(0,0) = (0,0)$, so the origin is an equilibrium point. Now, let's compute the Jacobian matrix of $F$ at the origin:

\begin{align} JF_{(0,0)} = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 1 \\ -\frac{g}{l} & -\frac{k}{ml} \end{pmatrix} \end{align} So, you can consider the linearised system \begin{align} x'(t) = JF_{(0,0)} \cdot x(t) \end{align} where for convenince I denote $x = \begin{pmatrix} x_1 \\ x_2 \end{pmatrix}$. Now, you can definitely compute the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of $JF_{(0,0)}$.


You've been given a non-linear equation $x'(t) = F(x(t))$, so it doesn't make much sense to talk about eigenvalues of such a system. What you have done is to artificially (and incorrectly) "force" $F(x(t))$ into a product of a certain $2 \times 2$ matrix and the column vector $x(t)$, which conceptually isn't very meaningful.

On the other hand, what I suggested is (usually) meaningful near the the equilibrium point, because you're approximating the non-linearity of $F$ by its derivative, which gives you a simple linear equation to analyze. And in general, knowing the behavior of the linear system tells you the behavior of non-linear system near the equilibrium point.