For a fixed shift that is not an eigenvalue, inverse iteration is the power method applied to . Before normalization, the th vector is proportional to
If , factor out the first coefficient:
Every ratio in parentheses lies strictly between zero and one. The bracket therefore tends to , and normalization in the Euclidean norm gives
This proves the stated convergence to or and exhibits the convergence of fixed-shift inverse iteration rate.
Now suppose . The closest eigenvalue to is one of and .
  • If , the direction approaches , but , so consecutive iterates alternate signs.
  • If , the iterates approach one fixed sign of because .
  • At the midpoint, the two dominant inverse eigenvalues have equal modulus and opposite signs. Generic iterates alternate between the two normalized combinations proportional to and .
Finally, if , the closest eigenvalue is and its inverse eigenvalue is negative. Thus the direction approaches the line spanned by , while normalized vectors alternate between the two signs. These cases are the sign behavior of fixed-shift inverse iteration.
Fix a shift that is not an eigenvalue of . Inverse iteration computes
and may use as the eigenvalue estimate.
For a real symmetric matrix, suppose that one eigenvalue is uniquely closest to and that has a nonzero component in its eigenspace. Since the iteration is the power method applied to , the normalized vectors converge, up to sign, to an eigenvector for . If is the second-closest eigenvalue to the shift, the asymptotic direction-error ratio is
Thus a shift close to the desired eigenvalue gives rapid convergence. The Rayleigh quotients converge to and, for a simple eigenvalue, their errors are of second order in the vector error. This is convergence of fixed-shift inverse iteration.
The power method starts from and iterates
If the eigenvalue of largest modulus is separated by a spectral gap and the initial vector is nonorthogonal to a corresponding eigenvector, the iterates converge in direction to that eigenvector.
Inverse iteration with shift instead solves
It applies the power method to and therefore finds an eigenvector whose eigenvalue is closest to .
Let and be the first and last columns of . Since is upper triangular,
Thus is the normalized th power method iterate starting from .
Taking the transpose of and using symmetry gives . Therefore
So the last column is the normalized th inverse iteration iterate with shift zero and starting vector .