# Why are these equivalent statements about the largest singular value for matrix $A$? $\sigma \le \,k$ IFF $A^T A \le k^2 I$

I frequently see this statement about any matrix, $A$:

$\|A\|_2 \le k \,\,$ IFF $A^TA \le k^2 I$

where

• $\|A\|_2$ is the L2 norm (or the "spectral norm", or the largest singular value) of A. not to be confused with the euclidean norm of a matrix, because that is different.

• $k \in \mathbb{R_+}$

• $\le$ is a matrix inequality that implies an inequality over the cone $S^n_+$

I do not undastand it.

The following is what I know:

• The matrix $A^TA$ is PSD, which I think should help me in some way (e.g. the eigenvalues are all positive).
• $\lambda_i = \sigma_i^2$ for all nonzero singular values, where $\lambda_i$ is an eigenvalue of $A$

Here's the "only if" part:

For $A\in\mathbb{R}^{m\times n}$, we have that $\|A\|_{2}\le k$, which means that for any $x\in\mathbb{R}^{n}$,

\begin{align} \|Ax\|_{2}^{2}&\le k^{2}\|x\|_{2}^{2}\\ \implies x^{\top}A^{\top}Ax&\le k^{2}x^{\top}x\\ \implies x^{\top}(A^{\top}A-k^{2}I)x&\le 0. \end{align}

Since $x$ was arbitrary, this means that $A^{\top}A-k^{2}I\preceq 0$, or, $A^{\top}A\preceq k^{2}I$.

The other direction is similar.

• I do not follow how you got the second step, unless you are making the claim that $x^TA^TAx \le ||Ax||^2_2$. Is that the claim that you're making? – jaja Sep 27 '17 at 1:05
• $\|Ax\|_{2}^{2}=\langle Ax,Ax\rangle=x^{\top}A^{\top}Ax$ – nemo Sep 27 '17 at 3:07
• i see and is it also true that $||Ax||^2_2 = ||A||^2_2 ||x||^2_2 \,\,$ ? You seem to be using that equality in the first step. Sorry if this is basic stuff. i need to know these things. – jaja Sep 28 '17 at 15:54
• I understand for induced norms $||Ax||_2 \le ||A||_2 ||x||_2 \,\,$, by the compatibility and consistency property of the L2 norm, but I don't understand how they can be equal here – jaja Sep 28 '17 at 16:00
• If $\|A\|_{2}$ denotes the operator norm, then for any $x$, $\|Ax\|_{2}\le\|A\|_{2}\|x\|_{2}$ by definition (which is what you note above). And since $\|A\|_{2}\le k$, we get $\|Ax\|_{2}\le k\|x\|_{2}$. Squaring both sides gives the first step. – nemo Sep 28 '17 at 18:08