diagonalize

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verb

To convert a square matrix into a diagonal matrix by multiplying it by a second matrix and its inverse.

RareScrabble 22

Meanings

verbdiagonalize (third-person singular simple present diagonalizes, present participle diagonalizing, simple past and past participle diagonalized)

present singular third person diagonalizes · participle present diagonalizing · participle past diagonalized · past diagonalized · alternative diagonalise

  1. transitivemathematicsTo convert a square matrix into a diagonal matrix by multiplying it by a second matrix and its inverse.
  2. cyberneticsTo design variables such that design problems only bear upon subsets that are loosely coupled to others.

    And what we should do, therefore, is to diagonalize the variables—we should find some new design variables such that design problems only bear upon subsets of them that are loosely coupled to others, like the subsystems of ten lights in the example.

    2017, Andrew Pickering, “Ross Ashby”, in The Cybernetic Brain, University of Chicago Press, published 2010, →ISBN, page 159

Synonyms & antonyms

verbtransform a matrix to a diagonal matrix

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Translations

Dutch diagonaliseren
  • diagonaliserenconvert square matrix into diagonal matrix
Hebrew לִכְסֵן
  • לִכְסֵן (likhsén)convert square matrix into diagonal matrix
Latin diagōnālizō
  • diagōnālizōconvert square matrix into diagonal matrix
Spanish diagonalizar
  • diagonalizarconvert square matrix into diagonal matrix
Cite this entry
APA

diagonalize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diagonalize

MLA

“diagonalize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diagonalize. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “diagonalize,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diagonalize.

Source: diagonalize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.