Determine direction of eigenvector

Suppose that $A \in \mathbb{R}^{n \times n}$ and $B \in \mathbb{R}^{n \times m}$ are integer matrices. Let $P$ be the unbounded polytope in $\mathbb{R}^n$ given by $$B \cdot x \geq 0$$

As there is no explicit formula for the roots of high degree polynomials we cannot explictily compute the eigenvalues or eigenvectors of $A$ however:

Is there an algorithm to determine if there is an eigenvector of $A$ lying inside of $P$?

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What does $\ge0$ mean in ${\bf R}^n$? –  Gerry Myerson Dec 8 '12 at 21:40
A vector $v$ is non-negative if each entry of $v$ is non-negative, this is written $v \geq 0$. –  Mark Bell Dec 8 '12 at 21:47

1 Answer

This is probably not what you need, but an obvious way to solve the problem is to find all eigenvectors of $A$, and then test if there is an eigenvector $v$ such that $Bv\ge0$ or $Bv\le0$. If the eigenspace spanned by $v$ does not pass through the polytope, some two entries of $Bv$ must have different signs.

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But computing the eigenvectors of $A$ requires finding the roots of the characteristic polynomial, and there is no closed expression for the roots of high degree polynomials. –  Mark Bell Dec 8 '12 at 21:52
Yes, that's why I said this is probably not what you want :-D Meanwhile, I'm a bit confused by your comment. You asked for an "algorithm". So I take that as a computer algorithm. However, if you'll end up using a computer to solve the problem, does it matter if there is no general formula for solving, say, a quintic equation? –  user1551 Dec 8 '12 at 22:08