Please help me with this math problem?

Question

Find the eigenvalues in terms of α for x'=(0, 1, -5, α)x. (this is 2x2 matrix, 0 and 1 on the left, -5 and alpha on the right. I got (0-r)(α-r)+5=0, what's next?)

Answer 1

Hello Sun,

 

What's next is simply to solve the quadratic!  So, multiply it out to get

 

r² -αr + 5 = 0

 

and use the quadratic formula to find the roots, which will be your eigenvalues.

 

Regards,

Hassan H.