A Survey of Componentwise Perturbation Theory

Perturbation bounds in numerical linear algebra are traditionally derived and expressed using norms. Norm bounds cannot reflect the scaling or sparsity of a problem and its perturbation, and so can be unduly weak. If the problem data and its perturbation are measured componentwise, much smaller and more revealing bounds can be obtained. A survey is given of componentwise perturbation theory in numerical linear algebra, covering linear systems, the matrix inverse, matrix factorizations, the least squares problem, and the eigenvalue and singular value problems. Most of the results described have been published in the last five years. Our hero is the intrepid, yet sensitive matrix A. Our villain is E, who keeps perturbing A. When A is perturbed he puts on a crumpled hat: e A = A+ E. G. W. Stewart and J.-G. Sun, Matrix Perturbation Theory (1990)