The generalized singular value decomposition (GSVD) is a matrix decomposition on a pair of matrices which generalizes the singular value decomposition. It was introduced by Van Loan [1] in 1976 and later developed by Paige and Saunders,[2] which is the version described here. In contrast to the SVD, the GSVD decomposes simultaneously a pair of matrices with the same number of columns. The SVD and the GSVD, as well as some other possible generalizations of the SVD,[3][4][5] are extensively used in the study of the conditioning and regularization of linear systems with respect to quadratic semi-norms. In the following, let
, or
.
Definition
The generalized singular value decomposition of matrices
and
is
where
is unitary,
is unitary,
is unitary,
is unitary,
is real diagonal with positive diagonal, and contains the non-zero singular values of
in decreasing order,
,
is real non-negative block-diagonal, where
with
,
, and
,
is real non-negative block-diagonal, where
with
,
, and
,
,
,
,
.
We denote
,
,
, and
. While
is diagonal,
is not always diagonal, because of the leading rectangular zero matrix; instead
is "bottom-right-diagonal".
Variations
There are many variations of the GSVD. These variations are related to the fact that it is always possible to multiply
from the left by
where
is an arbitrary unitary matrix. We denote
![{\displaystyle X=([W^{*}D,0_{D}]Q^{*})^{*}}](//wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/media/math/render/svg/8eacf9560febbf34a1ba766d8344d059bf4bde01)
, where
is upper-triangular and invertible, and
is unitary. Such matrices exist by RQ-decomposition.
. Then
is invertible.
Here are some variations of the GSVD:
- MATLAB (gsvd):

- LAPACK (LA_GGSVD):
![{\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}A_{1}&=U_{1}\Sigma _{1}[0,R]{\hat {Q}}^{*},\\A_{2}&=U_{2}\Sigma _{2}[0,R]{\hat {Q}}^{*}.\end{aligned}}}](//wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/media/math/render/svg/892e5b48402e72fae8b78394934678c5c6eedb89)
- Simplified:
![{\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}A_{1}&=U_{1}\Sigma _{1}[Y,0_{D}]Q^{*},\\A_{2}&=U_{2}\Sigma _{2}[Y,0_{D}]Q^{*}.\end{aligned}}}](//wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/media/math/render/svg/1fe690352365479eccfd975a52c59e3a5707824e)
Generalized singular values
A generalized singular value of
and
is a pair
such that
We have


By these properties we can show that the generalized singular values are exactly the pairs
. We have
Therefore

This expression is zero exactly when
and
for some
.
In,[2] the generalized singular values are claimed to be those which solve
. However, this claim only holds when
, since otherwise the determinant is zero for every pair
; this can be seen by substituting
above.
Generalized inverse
Define
for any invertible matrix
,
for any zero matrix
, and
for any block-diagonal matrix. Then define
It can be shown that
as defined here is a generalized inverse of
; in particular a
-inverse of
. Since it does not in general satisfy
, this is not the Moore–Penrose inverse; otherwise we could derive
for any choice of matrices, which only holds for certain class of matrices.
Suppose
, where
and
. This generalized inverse has the following properties:








Quotient SVD
A generalized singular ratio of
and
is
. By the above properties,
. Note that
is diagonal, and that, ignoring the leading zeros, contains the singular ratios in decreasing order. If
is invertible, then
has no leading zeros, and the generalized singular ratios are the singular values, and
and
are the matrices of singular vectors, of the matrix
. In fact, computing the SVD of
is one of the motivations for the GSVD, as "forming
and finding its SVD can lead to unnecessary and large numerical errors when
is ill-conditioned for solution of equations".[2] Hence the sometimes used name "quotient SVD", although this is not the only reason for using GSVD. If
is not invertible, then
is still the SVD of
if we relax the requirement of having the singular values in decreasing order. Alternatively, a decreasing order SVD can be found by moving the leading zeros to the back:
, where
and
are appropriate permutation matrices. Since rank equals the number of non-zero singular values,
.
Construction
Let
be the SVD of
, where
is unitary, and
and
are as described,
, where
and
,
, where
and
,
by the SVD of
, where
,
and
are as described,
by a decomposition similar to a QR-decomposition, where
and
are as described.
Then
We also have
Therefore
Since
has orthonormal columns,
. Therefore
We also have for each
such that
that
Therefore
, and