The Matrix Inverse: Squashed Means Gone
An interactive live film: A sends the unit cube to a box and its inverse sends it back; flatten the box and the smallest singular value goes to zero, two far-apart points land together, and the inverse stretches by 1/σ_min until it no longer exists.
Narration
The grey cube holds every input with coordinates between zero and one. The matrix A sends it to the teal box, whose edges are the three columns of A.
The inverse matrix sends the box back onto the cube. Every output came from exactly one input, so the trip can be undone.
The rest of the narration is in the book's Companion.
More from Chapter 2
Interactive1:40Change of Basis: One Vector, Two Sets of CoordinatesChapter 2
Preview1:53A Matrix Moves the CubeChapter 2
Preview1:49Rank One as a LandscapeChapter 2
Preview2:29Four Views of Matrix MultiplicationChapter 2
Preview1:44Column Space: Every Output Ax Lies on One PlaneChapter 2
Preview1:37The Projection Matrix: Outer times Inverse InnerChapter 2
Preview1:36Matrix Norm and Condition Number: the Largest StretchChapter 2