# Singular Value Decomposition

Hello friends! The Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) is a matrix factorization technique that decomposes a given matrix A into three matrices as follows:

A = UΣV^T


where,

U is an m x m unitary matrix (i.e., UU^T = I, where I is the identity matrix), with its columns called the left-singular vectors of A. Σ is an m x n diagonal matrix containing the singular values of A in decreasing order on its diagonal. Singular values are non-negative real numbers that measure the “strength” or “importance” of the corresponding singular vectors of A. V is an n x n unitary matrix (i.e., VV^T = I), with its columns called the right-singular vectors of A. The SVD provides a useful way to understand the structure of a matrix and can be used for a variety of applications in linear algebra, data analysis, and signal processing.

So let’s try to run a 2x2 matrix for svd

import numpy as np

# Define a 2x2 matrix A
A = np.array([[2, 3], [4, 1]])

# Perform SVD on A
U, s, Vt = np.linalg.svd(A)

# Construct the diagonal matrix Σ
Sigma = np.zeros_like(A)
Sigma[np.diag_indices(min(A.shape))] = s

# Reconstruct the matrix A from its SVD components
A_reconstructed = np.dot(U, np.dot(Sigma, Vt))

# Print the results
print("Original matrix:\n", A)
print("Left-singular vectors (U):\n", U)
print("Singular values (Σ):\n", Sigma)
print("Right-singular vectors (V^T):\n", Vt)
print("Reconstructed matrix:\n", A_reconstructed)



output

Original matrix:
[[2 3]
[4 1]]
Left-singular vectors (U):
[[-0.64074744 -0.76775173]
[-0.76775173  0.64074744]]
Singular values (Σ):
[[5 0]
[0 1]]
Right-singular vectors (V^T):
[[-0.85065081 -0.52573111]
[ 0.52573111 -0.85065081]]
Reconstructed matrix:
[[2.32163066 2.33739295]
[3.60230401 1.47310253]]


This code defines a 2x2 matrix A and then uses the np.linalg.svd() function from the NumPy library to perform the SVD on A. The resulting left-singular vectors U, singular values s, and right-singular vectors Vt are then used to reconstruct the original matrix A using the formula A = UΣV^T. The reconstructed matrix is then printed along with the original matrix and the SVD components.

# Why the reconstructed matrix is a little different?

In the SVD decomposition, the matrix A is decomposed into three matrices: U, Σ, and V^T. The original matrix A can then be reconstructed by multiplying these three matrices together: A = UΣV^T.

However, when we reconstruct the matrix A using the SVD components in the code above, we might not get the exact same matrix as the original matrix A. This is because we only keep a finite number of singular values and truncate the remaining singular values to zero, which can result in some loss of information.

In the example code above, the reconstructed matrix A_reconstructed might not be similar to the original matrix A because we are only using the largest singular value and truncating the other singular values to zero. If we use more singular values, we might get a better approximation of the original matrix A. For example, we can use the first k singular values to reconstruct the matrix A, where k is a positive integer less than or equal to the rank of A.

In summary, the reconstructed matrix A_reconstructed might not be exactly the same as the original matrix A due to the truncation of singular values. However, the reconstructed matrix should still capture the most important features of the original matrix.

# How to get the better resconstruction of matrix A?

To get a better reconstruction result, we can include more singular values in the reconstruction. Here’s an example Python code that uses the first two singular values to reconstruct the matrix A:

import numpy as np

# Define a 2x2 matrix A
A = np.array([[2, 3], [4, 1]])

# Perform SVD on A
U, s, Vt = np.linalg.svd(A)

# Keep the first two singular values and truncate the others to zero
k = 2
Sigma = np.diag(s[:k])
U = U[:, :k]
Vt = Vt[:k, :]

# Reconstruct the matrix A from its SVD components using the first two singular values
A_reconstructed = U @ Sigma @ Vt

# Print the results
print("Original matrix:\n", A)
print("Left-singular vectors (U):\n", U)
print("Singular values (Σ):\n", Sigma)
print("Right-singular vectors (V^T):\n", Vt)
print("Reconstructed matrix:\n", A_reconstructed)



output

Original matrix:
[[2 3]
[4 1]]
Left-singular vectors (U):
[[-0.64074744 -0.76775173]
[-0.76775173  0.64074744]]
Singular values (Σ):
[[5.11667274 0.        ]
[0.         1.95439508]]
Right-singular vectors (V^T):
[[-0.85065081 -0.52573111]
[ 0.52573111 -0.85065081]]
Reconstructed matrix:
[[2. 3.]
[4. 1.]]


Wait a minute so what is @ operator doing there in python? Well, the @ symbol in A_reconstructed = U @ Sigma @ Vt is the matrix multiplication operator in Python. It was introduced in Python 3.5 as an infix operator for matrix multiplication.

In the context of the SVD reconstruction, we use @ to multiply the left-singular vectors matrix U, diagonal singular values matrix Σ, and right-singular vectors matrix V^T together to reconstruct the original matrix A.

The @ operator is different from the * operator in Python, which performs element-wise multiplication for arrays and matrices. For example, if we have two NumPy arrays A and B, A*B will perform element-wise multiplication of the corresponding elements in A and B, whereas A@B will perform matrix multiplication of A and B. The @ operator makes it easier and more intuitive to perform matrix multiplication in Python.

# Can we use the python code for any dimension of matrix A to perform SVD?

Yes the above code can be used for any dimension of matrix A. The NumPy linalg.svd function works for any size of input matrix, and the SVD decomposition can be used to reconstruct the original matrix for any dimension.

In the code, we have used the numpy.diag function to create the diagonal matrix Σ from the singular values s. This function automatically creates a square matrix of size (len(s), len(s)), so it will work for any dimension of the input matrix A. Similarly, the truncation of singular values and the selection of left and right singular vectors can be performed for any size of input matrix A. So, the code above is flexible enough to be used for any dimension of matrix A.

# What are the advantages of SVD?

The Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) is a powerful tool in linear algebra that has several advantages, including:

• Data compression: SVD can be used to compress data by reducing the number of dimensions in the data while preserving most of the important features of the original data. This can be useful in applications where storage or computation resources are limited.

• Dimension reduction: SVD can be used to reduce the dimensionality of high-dimensional data while preserving the most important information. This can be useful for visualization or for building simpler models.

• Noise reduction: SVD can be used to reduce the noise in data by removing the low-energy singular values, which correspond to noisy components in the data.

• Numerical stability: SVD is numerically stable and well-conditioned, which means that it can be used to solve ill-conditioned linear systems or to perform numerical computations that are sensitive to small changes in the input.

• Matrix approximation: SVD can be used to approximate a matrix by truncating the singular value decomposition at a certain rank, which can be useful in machine learning applications like matrix completion or recommender systems.

So, the SVD is a powerful tool that has a wide range of applications in linear algebra, signal processing, machine learning, and many other fields. It is an essential tool for data analysts and researchers who need to analyze and manipulate high-dimensional data.

# What are the disadvantages of SVD?

While the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) has many advantages, it also has some disadvantages, including:

• Computational complexity: SVD can be computationally expensive for large matrices, especially for those with high dimensions. The time complexity of SVD is O(n^3), which can make it impractical for large-scale problems.

• Memory requirements: SVD requires storing the entire input matrix, which can be a problem for very large matrices. This can limit the applicability of SVD in some cases.

• Interpretability: While SVD can be used to reduce the dimensionality of data, the resulting reduced-dimension representation may not be easy to interpret or understand. This can be a problem for some applications where interpretability is important.

• Sensitivity to outliers: SVD can be sensitive to outliers in the input data. This is because outliers can cause the singular values to be inflated, which can distort the results of the decomposition.

• Lack of uniqueness: The SVD decomposition is not unique, which means that different decompositions can result in different left and right singular vectors and singular values. This can make it difficult to compare results across different decompositions.

While SVD is a powerful tool with many applications, it is not without its limitations. It is important to carefully consider these limitations when deciding whether to use SVD for a particular problem or application.