The computation of functions of matrices is a general problem with applications in many areas such as control theory. The function of a square matrix is not the same as the application of the function to each element in the matrix. Clearly element-wise application would not maintain properties consistent with the application of the function to a scale. For example, each element of the following matrix is raised to the zero power.

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However, a much better result would be the identity matrix. Mathematica has a function for raising a matrix to a power, and when a matrix is raised to the zero power the result is the identity matrix.

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There are a number of ways to define functions of matrices; one useful way is to consider a series expansion. For the exponential function this works as follows.

One way to compute this series involves diagonalizing , so that and . Therefore, the exponential of can be computed as follows.

This technique can be generalized to functions of the eigenvalues of . Note that while this is one way to define functions of matrices, it does not provide a good way to compute them.

Mathematica does not have a function for computing general functions of matrices, but it has some specific functions.

Here is a sample matrix.

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This raises the matrix to the fourth power.

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The result is equivalent to squaring the square of the matrix.

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This computes the exponential of the matrix.

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It is equivalent to the computation that uses the eigensystem of the matrix. (It should be noted that this is not an efficient way to compute a function of a matrix, the example here is only for exposition.)

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