# Documentation

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# cond

Condition number for inversion

## Syntax

``C = cond(A)``
``C = cond(A,p)``

## Description

example

````C = cond(A)` returns the 2-norm condition number for inversion, equal to the ratio of the largest singular value of `A` to the smallest.```

example

````C = cond(A,p)` returns the `p`-norm condition number, where `p` can be `1`, `2`, `Inf`, or `'fro'`.```

## Examples

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Calculate the condition number of a matrix and examine the sensitivity to the inverse calculation.

Create a 2-by-2 matrix.

```A = [4.1 2.8; 9.7 6.6];```

Calculate the 2-norm condition number of `A`.

`C = cond(A)`
```C = 1.6230e+03 ```

Since the condition number of `A` is much larger than 1, the matrix is sensitive to the inverse calculation. Calculate the inverse of `A`, and then make a small change in the second row of `A` and calculate the inverse again.

`invA = inv(A)`
```invA = 2×2 -66.0000 28.0000 97.0000 -41.0000 ```
```A2 = [4.1 2.8; 9.671 6.608]```
```A2 = 2×2 4.1000 2.8000 9.6710 6.6080 ```
`invA2 = inv(A2)`
```invA2 = 2×2 472.0000 -200.0000 -690.7857 292.8571 ```

The results indicate that making a small change in `A` can completely change the result of the inverse calculation.

Calculate the 1-norm condition number of a matrix.

Create a 3-by-3 matrix.

```A = [1 0 -2; 3 4 6; -1 5 7];```

Calculate the 1-norm condition number of `A`. The value of the 1-norm condition number for an m-by-n matrix is

,

where the 1-norm is the maximum absolute column sum of the matrix given by

`C = cond(A,1)`
```C = 18.0000 ```

For this matrix the condition number is not too large, so the matrix is not particularly sensitive to the inverse calculation.

## Input Arguments

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Input matrix. `A` can be either square or rectangular in size.

Data Types: `single` | `double`
Complex Number Support: Yes

Norm type, specified as one of the values shown in this table. `cond` computes the condition number using `norm(A,p) * norm(inv(A),p)` for values of `p` other than 2. See the `norm` page for additional information about these norm types.

Value of p

Norm Type

`1`

1-norm condition number

`p`

2-norm condition number

`Inf`

Frobenius norm condition number

`'fro'`

Infinity norm condition number

Example: `cond(A,1)` calculates the 1-norm condition number.

## Output Arguments

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Condition number, returned as a scalar. Values of `C` near 1 indicate a well-conditioned matrix, and large values of `C` indicate an ill-conditioned matrix. Singular matrices have a condition number of `Inf`.

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### Condition Number for Inversion

A condition number for a matrix and computational task measures how sensitive the answer is to changes in the input data and roundoff errors in the solution process.

The condition number for inversion of a matrix measures the sensitivity of the solution of a system of linear equations to errors in the data. It gives an indication of the accuracy of the results from matrix inversion and the linear equation solution. For example, the 2-norm condition number of a matrix is

`$\kappa \left(A\right)=‖{A}^{}‖‖{A}^{-1}‖\text{\hspace{0.17em}}.$`

In this context, a large condition number indicates that a small change in the coefficient matrix `A` can lead to larger changes in the output `b` in the linear equations Ax = b and xA = b. The extreme case is when `A` is so poorly conditioned that it is singular (an infinite condition number), in which case it has no inverse and the linear equation has no unique solution.

## Tips

• `rcond` is a more efficient, but less reliable, method of estimating the condition of a matrix compared to `cond`.

## Algorithms

The algorithm for `cond` has three pieces:

• If `p = 2`, then `cond` uses the singular value decomposition provided by `svd` to find the ratio of the largest and smallest singular values.

• If `p = 1`, `Inf`, or `'fro'`, then `cond` calculates the condition number using the appropriate norm of the input matrix and its inverse with `norm(A,p) * norm(inv(A),p)`.

• If the input matrix is sparse, then `cond` ignores any specified `p` value and calls `condest`.