Let A\in\mathbb{M}_n (\Complex) (that is, a complex matrix) and C\in\mathrm{GL}_n (\Complex) be the
change of basis matrix to the
Jordan normal form of ; that is, . Now let be a
holomorphic function on an open set \Omega such that \mathrm{spec}A \subset \Omega \subseteq \Complex; that is, the spectrum of the matrix is contained inside the
domain of holomorphy of . Let f(z)=\sum_{h=0}^{\infty}a_h (z-z_0)^h be the
power series expansion of around z_0\in\Omega \setminus \operatorname{spec}A, which will be hereinafter supposed to be
0 for simplicity's sake. The matrix is then defined via the following
formal power series f(A)=\sum_{h=0}^{\infty}a_h A^h and is
absolutely convergent with respect to the
Euclidean norm of \mathbb{M}_n (\Complex). To put it another way, converges absolutely for every square matrix whose
spectral radius is less than the
radius of convergence of around and is
uniformly convergent on any compact subsets of \mathbb{M}_n (\Complex) satisfying this property in the
matrix Lie group topology. The
Jordan normal form allows the computation of functions of matrices without explicitly computing an
infinite series, which is one of the main achievements of Jordan matrices. Using the facts that the th power (k\in\N_0) of a diagonal
block matrix is the diagonal block matrix whose blocks are the th powers of the respective blocks; that is, and that , the above matrix power series becomes f(A) = C^{-1}f(J)C = C^{-1}\left(\bigoplus_{k=1}^N f\left(J_{\lambda_k ,m_k}\right)\right)C where the last series need not be computed explicitly via power series of every Jordan block. In fact, if \lambda\in\Omega, any
holomorphic function of a Jordan block f(J_{\lambda,n}) = f(\lambda I+Z) has a finite power series around \lambda I because Z^n=0. Here, Z is the nilpotent part of J and Z^k has all 0's except 1's along the k^{\text{th}} superdiagonal. Thus it is the following upper
triangular matrix: f(J_{\lambda,n})= \sum_{k=0}^{n-1} \frac{f^{(k)}(\lambda) Z^k}{k!} = \begin{bmatrix} f(\lambda) & f^\prime (\lambda) & \frac{f^{\prime\prime}(\lambda)}{2} & \cdots & \frac{f^{(n-2)}(\lambda)}{(n-2)!} & \frac{f^{(n-1)}(\lambda)}{(n-1)!} \\ 0 & f(\lambda) & f^\prime (\lambda) & \cdots & \frac{f^{(n-3)}(\lambda)}{(n-3)!} & \frac{f^{(n-2)}(\lambda)}{(n-2)!} \\ 0 & 0 & f(\lambda) & \cdots & \frac{f^{(n-4)}(\lambda)}{(n-4)!} & \frac{f^{(n-3)}(\lambda)}{(n-3)!} \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots & \vdots & \vdots \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & \cdots & f(\lambda) & f^\prime (\lambda) \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & \cdots & 0 & f(\lambda) \\ \end{bmatrix}. As a consequence of this, the computation of any function of a matrix is straightforward whenever its Jordan normal form and its change-of-basis matrix are known. For example, using f(z)=1/z, the inverse of J_{\lambda,n} is: J_{\lambda,n}^{-1} = \sum_{k=0}^{n-1}\frac{(-Z)^k}{\lambda^{k+1}} = \begin{bmatrix} \lambda^{-1} & -\lambda^{-2} & \,\,\,\lambda^{-3} & \cdots & -(-\lambda)^{1-n} & \,-(-\lambda)^{-n} \\ 0 & \;\;\;\lambda^{-1} & -\lambda^{-2} & \cdots & -(-\lambda)^{2-n} & -(-\lambda)^{1-n} \\ 0 & 0 & \,\,\,\lambda^{-1} & \cdots & -(-\lambda)^{3-n} & -(-\lambda)^{2-n} \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots & \vdots & \vdots \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & \cdots & \lambda^{-1} & -\lambda^{-2} \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & \cdots & 0 & \lambda^{-1} \\ \end{bmatrix}. Also, ; that is, every eigenvalue \lambda\in\mathrm{spec}A corresponds to the eigenvalue f(\lambda) \in \operatorname{spec}f(A), but it has, in general, different
algebraic multiplicity, geometric multiplicity and index. However, the algebraic multiplicity may be computed as follows: \text{mul}_{f(A)}f(\lambda)=\sum_{\mu\in\text{spec}A\cap f^{-1}(f(\lambda))}~\text{mul}_A \mu. The function of a
linear transformation between vector spaces can be defined in a similar way according to the
holomorphic functional calculus, where
Banach space and
Riemann surface theories play a fundamental role. In the case of finite-dimensional spaces, both theories perfectly match. == Dynamical systems ==