Past exam of the numerical linear algebra course of the University of Oxford / 2025 / 1 / b / i / Solution

Choose the nonnegative square roots of the eigenvalues of $A^{T}A$ for the diagonal entries of $\Sigma$, in nonincreasing order. Its assumed matrix inverse exists, so these entries are positive. The eigendecomposition givesHence $U$ has orthonormal columns. AlsoTogether with the orthogonal matrix $V$ and the nonnegative diagonal matrix $\Sigma$, these are precisely the properties of a thin singular value decomposition.