# Moore-Penrose pseudoinverse and the Euclidean norm

Section 2.9 The Moore-Penrose Pseudoinverse of the textbook Deep Learning by Goodfellow, Bengio, and Courville, says the following:

Matrix inversion is not defined for matrices that are not square. Suppose we want to make a left-inverse $$\mathbf{B}$$ of a matrix $$\mathbf{A}$$ so that we can solve a linear equation

$$\mathbf{A} \mathbf{x} = \mathbf{y} \tag{2.44}$$

by left-multiplying each side to obtain

$$\mathbf{x} = \mathbf{B} \mathbf{y}. \tag{2.45}$$

Depending on the structure of the problem, it may not be possible to design a unique mapping from $$\mathbf{A}$$ to $$\mathbf{B}$$.

If $$\mathbf{A}$$ is taller than it is wide, then it is possible for this equation to have no solution. If $$\mathbf{A}$$ is wider than it is tall, then there could be multiple possible solutions. The Moore-Penrose pseudoinverse enables us to make some headway in these cases. The pseudoinverse of $$\mathbf{A}$$ is defined as a matrix

$$\mathbf{A}^+ = \lim_{\alpha \searrow 0^+}(\mathbf{A}^T \mathbf{A} + \alpha \mathbf{I} )^{-1} \mathbf{A}^T. \tag{2.46}$$

Practical algorithms for computing the pseudoinverse are based not on this definition, but rather on the formula

$$\mathbf{A}^+ = \mathbf{V} \mathbf{D}^+ \mathbf{U}^T, \tag{2.47}$$

where $$\mathbf{U}$$, $$\mathbf{D}$$ and $$\mathbf{V}$$ are the singular value decomposition of $$\mathbf{A}$$, and the pseudoinverse $$\mathbf{D}^+$$ of a diagonal matrix $$\mathbf{D}$$ is obtained by taking the reciprocal of its nonzero elements then taking the transpose of the resulting matrix.

When $$\mathbf{A}$$ has more columns than rows, then solving a linear equation using the pseudoinverse provides one of the many possible solutions. Specifically, it provides the solution $$\mathbf{x} = \mathbf{A}^+ \mathbf{y}$$ with minimal Euclidean norm $$\vert \vert \mathbf{x} \vert \vert_2$$ among all possible solutions.

When $$\mathbf{A}$$ has more rows than columns, it is possible for there to be no solution. In this case, using the pseudoinverse gives us the $$\mathbf{x}$$ for which $$\mathbf{A} \mathbf{x}$$ is as close as possible to $$\mathbf{y}$$ in terms of Euclidean norm $$\vert \vert \mathbf{A} \mathbf{x} − \mathbf{y} \vert \vert_2$$.

It's this last part that I'm wondering about:

When $$\mathbf{A}$$ has more columns than rows, then solving a linear equation using the pseudoinverse provides one of the many possible solutions. Specifically, it provides the solution $$\mathbf{x} = \mathbf{A}^+ \mathbf{y}$$ with minimal Euclidean norm $$\vert \vert \mathbf{x} \vert \vert_2$$ among all possible solutions.

When $$\mathbf{A}$$ has more rows than columns, it is possible for there to be no solution. In this case, using the pseudoinverse gives us the $$\mathbf{x}$$ for which $$\mathbf{A} \mathbf{x}$$ is as close as possible to $$\mathbf{y}$$ in terms of Euclidean norm $$\vert \vert \mathbf{A} \mathbf{x} − \mathbf{y} \vert \vert_2$$.

What I found confusing here is that the Euclidean norms $$\vert \vert \mathbf{x} \vert \vert_2$$ and $$\vert \vert \mathbf{A} \mathbf{x} − \mathbf{y} \vert \vert_2$$ seemingly come out of nowhere. Prior to this section, there is no discussion of the Euclidean norm -- only of the mechanics of the Moore-Penrose Pseudoinverse. And the authors then just assert this part without explanation.

So I am left wondering the following:

1. Why is it that, when $$\mathbf{A}$$ has more columns than rows, then using the pseudoinverse gives us the solution $$\mathbf{x} = \mathbf{A}^+ \mathbf{y}$$ with minimal Euclidean norm $$\vert \vert \mathbf{x} \vert \vert_2$$ among all possible solutions?

2. Why is it that, when $$\mathbf{A}$$ has more rows than columns, then using the pseudoinverse gives us the $$\mathbf{x}$$ for which $$\mathbf{A} \mathbf{x}$$ is as close as possible to $$\mathbf{y}$$ in terms of Euclidean norm $$\vert \vert \mathbf{A} \mathbf{x} − \mathbf{y} \vert \vert_2$$?

And what are the mechanics involved here?

I would greatly appreciate it if people would please take the time to clarify this.

• Your questions 1. and 2. are the same. Jan 28, 2020 at 12:24
• @TSF Good catch. Thanks for that! Jan 28, 2020 at 12:26
• Consider the optimization problem, $\min\limits_{x} \frac{1}{2}\|Ax-y\|^2$ Obviously the solution to this problem will be a vector $x$ such $Ax$ is as close to $y$ as possible. Let $x^*$ be a solution, the optimality conditions are, $0 = A^* (Ax^* - y)$ where $A^*$ is the adjoint of $A$. Naively solving this for $x^*$ we find, $x^* = (A^*A)^{-1}(A^* y)$. Compare this with your pseudo inverse. Try to use the same idea to explore the other scenario. Jan 28, 2020 at 12:29
• I just want to point out that it's not the only place in linear algebra where the Euclidean norm pops out "magically". For example if you look at eigenvalues (which is purely a "linear" concept), they have variational characterization in terms of Euclidean norm (e.g. the top eigenvalue is the maximum of $|| Ax ||_2$ on the unit Euclidean sphere). So it's not really surprising to see other extremal properties involving Euclidean norm coming out from linear algebra
– md5
Jan 28, 2020 at 12:38
• @ThePointer This is explained in virtually every introductory linear algebra textbook. $y=Ax$ has a solution if and only if $y$ lies inside the column space of $A$. And whenever it has a solution, it has infinitely many solutions if and only if the kernel/null space of $A$ is non-trivial. That $A$ has more columns than rows is a sufficient condition but not a necessary condition for the null space of $A$ to be non-trivial. Even if the null space is non-trivial, that doesn't mean $y=Ax$ has infinitely many solutions, because $y$ may not lie inside the column space of $A$ in the first place. Jan 28, 2020 at 16:38

## 3 Answers

Eqn. (2.46) proposes to look at the minimizer $$x_\alpha$$ of the functional $$J_\alpha(x) := |A x - y|^2 + \alpha |x|^2.$$ For any finite $$\alpha > 0$$, the functional is strictly convex and has a unique minimizer $$x_\alpha$$; it is the smallest among those $$x$$ that produce the same residual magnitude $$|A x - y|$$. Minimization wrt $$x$$ gives $$x_\alpha = (A^\top A + \alpha I)^{-1} A^\top y$$. To see this, write the norm $$|\cdot|^2$$ in terms of the scalar product $$\langle \cdot, \cdot \rangle$$.

Ad 1. Suppose $$A x = y$$ has a solution $$x^*$$. The set of solutions is the convex set $$(x^* + \ker A)$$. So, there is only one solution that has minimal norm: the orthogonal projection of $$0$$ onto that set. As $$\alpha \searrow 0$$, the residual term becomes more important, and $$A x = y$$ is eventually enforced. Therefore, $$x_0 := \lim_{\alpha \searrow 0} x_\alpha$$ is the minimal-norm solution of $$A x = y$$.

Ad 2. If $$A x = y$$ has no solution, the residual $$|A x - y|$$ still has a minimum, which is selected for in the limit $$\alpha \searrow 0$$.

Let $$x$$ be $$A^+y$$.

1. Let me begin by the second point. For all $$z$$, we have: \begin{align} \lVert Az-y \rVert_2^2 &= \lVert Ax-y \rVert_2^2 + \lVert A(z-x) \rVert_2^2 + 2 (z-x)^TA^T(Ax-y)\\ & \geq \lVert Ax-y \rVert_2^2 + 2 (z-x)^TA^T(Ax-y) \end{align} Moreover, because $$(AA^+)^T = AA^+$$, $$A^T(Ax-y) = ((AA^+)A)^Ty - A^Ty = 0$$ Thus, we prove that for all $$z$$, $$\rVert Az-y \lVert_2^2 \geq\rVert Ax-y \lVert_2^2$$, that is to say $$A^+y$$ is as close as possible to $$y$$ in term of the Euclidian norm $$\lVert Ax-y\rVert_2$$.

2. Now, let us suppose that there exist $$z$$ so that $$Az=y$$. According to the first point, we have $$\rVert Ax-y\lVert_2=0$$, so $$x$$ is a solution. Moreover, for all solution $$z$$, $$\lVert z \rVert_2^2=\lVert x \rVert_2^2 + \lVert z-x \rVert_2^2 + 2x^T(z-x)$$ Yet, because $$A^+Ax=x$$ and $$(A^+A)^T=A^+A$$, $$x^T(x-z) = (A^+Ax)^T(x-z) = x^T(A^+Ax-z) = x^T(A^+y-z)=0$$ Thus, $$\lVert z \rVert_2^2 \geq \lVert x \rVert_2^2$$, that is to say that $$x$$ is the solution with the minimal Euclidian norm.

• Can you please explain how you concluded that \begin{align} \lVert Az-b \rVert_2^2 &= \lVert Ax-b \rVert_2^2 + \lVert A(z-x) \rVert_2^2 + 2 (z-x)^TA^T(Az-b) \end{align}? Feb 10, 2020 at 4:31
• My bad, last term should be $2 (z-x)^TA^T(Ax-b)$. I just edited the answer. Feb 10, 2020 at 13:28
• I didn't even notice that. I'm not understanding how you got the entire result \begin{align} \lVert Az-b \rVert_2^2 &= \lVert Ax-b \rVert_2^2 + \lVert A(z-x) \rVert_2^2 + 2 (z-x)^TA^T(Ax-b) \end{align} Can you please explain all of this? Mar 11, 2020 at 16:12
• @ThePointer It's because $$\lVert Az-b\rVert_2^2 = \lVert A(z-x) +Ax-b\rVert_2^2 = \lVert A(z-x)\rVert_2^2 + \lVert Ax-b\rVert_2^2 + 2(z-x)^TA^T(Ax-b)$$ Using the fact that $$\lVert x+y \rVert_2^2 = \lVert x \rVert_2^2 + \lVert y \rVert_2^2+ 2x^T y$$. Mar 12, 2020 at 17:11
• Thanks for taking the time to clarify. Out of curiosity, what is the property $\vert \vert x + y \vert \vert_2^2 = \vert\vert x \vert\vert_2^2 + \vert\vert y \vert\vert_2^2 + 2x^T A^T y$ called? Where does it come from? Mar 12, 2020 at 21:59

The answer to your first question follows easily by writing down the left inverse and the SVD of $$A$$ and $$A^+$$. When $$A_{m\times n}$$ has more columns than rows ($$n>m$$), it can be rewritten as $$A=UDV^T$$where $$U_{m\times m}$$ and $$V_{n\times n}$$ are unitary and $$D_{m\times n}$$ is diagonal. The Moore-Penrose pseudoinverse can be defined as $$A^+=VD^+U^T$$ where $$D^+_{n\times m}$$ is such that $$D^+D=\begin{bmatrix}I_{k\times k}&0_{k\times (n-k)}\\0_{(n-k)\times k}&0_{(n-k)\times (n-k)}\end{bmatrix}$$where $$k\le m$$ is the number of non-zero singular values of $$A$$ (For example if $$D=\begin{bmatrix}2&0&0&0\\0&3&0&0\\0&0&0&0\end{bmatrix}$$, then $$k=2$$ and $$D^+=\begin{bmatrix}{1\over2}&0&0\\0&{1\over3}&0\\0&0&0\\0&0&0\end{bmatrix}$$ which leads to $$D^+D=\begin{bmatrix}1&0&0&0\\0&1&0&0\\0&0&0&0\\0&0&0&0\end{bmatrix}$$). The system of variable then degrades to $$D^+DV^Tx=D^+U^Ty$$Since $$||V^Tx||_2=||x||_2$$ (rotation is an isometry), then by defining $$w\triangleq V^Tx$$ we can write$$D^+Dw=D^+U^Ty$$which induces constraints only on the first $$k$$ entries of $$w$$ (since only the first $$k$$ rows of $$D^+D$$ are linearly independent) and the remaining $$n-k$$ entries of $$w$$ are left without matter, such that if they are chosen equally zero, $$w$$ (and respectively $$x$$) touch their least possible $$2$$-norm (since $$||x||_2^2=\sum_{i=1}^{n}|x_i|^2$$).

To Be Updated...

• Can you please explain a bit more about what the matrix $D^+_{n\times m}$ is? Also, can you please elaborate on how you got that $D^+DV^Tx=D^+U^Ty$? Feb 10, 2020 at 4:43
• Sure. Given an $m\times n$ diagonal matrix $D$ (i.e. for which we must have $a_{ij}=0$ when $i\ne j$), $D^+_{n\times m}$ is another diagonal matrix whose diagonal entries are the real inverses of the counterpart entries in $D$, except for those that are zero. More formally$$D=\begin{bmatrix}A_{k\times k}&0_{k\times n-k}\\0_{m-k\times k}&0_{m-k\times n-k}\end{bmatrix}\implies D^+=\begin{bmatrix}A^{-1}_{k\times k}&0_{k\times m-k}\\0_{n-k\times k}&0_{n-k\times m-k}\end{bmatrix}$$ Feb 10, 2020 at 8:30
• For your second question, by starting from $$Ax=y$$we obtain the following $$UDV^Tx=y\implies DV^Tx=U^Ty\implies D^+DV^Tx=D^+U^Ty$$since $U^TU=UU^T=I$ Feb 10, 2020 at 8:30