# Is Wolfram Alpha Wrong? (LU Decomposition)

Ok, I've been working on a matrix solver for a while (no, its not going well, thanks for asking), and just discovered something that worrys me alot;

The problem at hand is LU Decomposition of a square matrix, for example

$\begin{matrix} 1&2&3\\ 2&-1&1\\ 3&4&-1\\ \end{matrix}$

WolframAlpha's answer is completely different from the example source

Wolfram

$\begin{matrix} 1&2&3\\ 3&-2&-10\\ 2&2.5&20\\ \end{matrix}$

Source

$\begin{matrix} 1&2&3\\ 2&-5&-5\\ 3&0.4&-8\\ \end{matrix}$

What's going on?

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I think your example source has some problem. Compare equation (3) with equation (6). $A$ is supposed to equal $LU$... –  Willie Wong Apr 17 '11 at 22:43
The Wolfram one also ends up being trying to take the LU decomposition of a row permutation of $A$. (It is the one for with the bottom two rows switched.) –  Willie Wong Apr 17 '11 at 22:51
@Willie: The example source is correct. Equation (6) you're referring to is showing how to store the $LU$ decomposition efficiently in one matrix. –  t.b. Apr 17 '11 at 22:52
@Theo: ah, thanks, I didn't pay enough attention. –  Willie Wong Apr 17 '11 at 22:55
Also, I think the question statement has a typo. Entry $(2,2)$ of the Wolfram compact representation should be $-2$ instead of $-1$. –  cardinal Apr 17 '11 at 23:02

It looks like Wolfram Alpha is doing an LU decomposition with partial pivoting. So, it's actually solving a system like $$\newcommand{\bm}[1]{\mathbf{#1}} \bm{P} \bm{A} = \bm{L} \bm{U}$$ where $\bm{P}$ is a permutation matrix.
Curiously, it appears that Alpha simply isn't listing the permutation used in solving the system. In this case it is $$\bm{P} = \left( \begin{matrix} 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \end{matrix} \right) .$$
You can recover $\bm{A}$ via $$\bm{A} = \bm{P}^{-1} \bm{L} \bm{U} = \bm{P L U}$$ since in this case $\bm{P} = \bm{P}^{-1}$.