Lesson plan
Pivot element
The pivot or pivot element is the element of a matrix, or an array, which is selected first by an algorithm (e.g. Gaussian elimination, simplex algorithm, etc.), to do certain calculations. In the case of matrix algorithms, a pivot entry is usually required to be at least distinct from zero, and often distant from it; in this case finding this element is called pivoting. Pivoting may be followed by an interchange of rows or columns to bring the pivot to a fixed position and allow the algorithm to proceed successfully, and possibly to reduce round-off error. It is often used for verifying row echelon form. Pivoting might be thought of as swapping or sorting rows or columns in a matrix, and thus it can be represented as multiplication by permutation matrices. Overall, pivoting adds more operations to the computational cost of an algorithm. These additional operations are sometimes necessary for the algorithm to work at all. Other times these additional operations are worthwhile because they add numerical stability to the final result.
Article summary
The pivot or pivot element is the element of a matrix, or an array, which is selected first by an algorithm (e.g. Gaussian elimination, simplex algorithm, etc.), to do certain calculations. In the case of matrix algorithms, a pivot entry is usually required to be at least distinct from zero, and often distant from it; in this case finding this element is called pivoting. Pivoting may be followed by an interchange of rows or columns to bring the pivot to a fixed position and allow the algorithm to proceed successfully, and possibly to reduce round-off error. It is often used for verifying row echelon form. Pivoting might be thought of as swapping or sorting rows or columns in a matrix, and thus it can be represented as multiplication by permutation matrices. Overall, pivoting adds more operations to the computational cost of an algorithm. These additional operations are sometimes necessary for the algorithm to work at all. Other times these additional operations are worthwhile because they add numerical stability to the final result.
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.