A sequence is Q-linearly convergent to in a specified norm if for all sufficiently large , with some . Its asymptotic factor is the limsup of consecutive error ratios.
Put , and . For an error , an exact first-coordinate step sets , and an exact second-coordinate step sets . Once the first coordinate step has occurred, errors consequently alternate between the two lines
The next error has its free coordinate multiplied in magnitude by , and both lines have the same Euclidean norm factor . Therefore, until finite termination,
This is a sharp bound, attained after the first step; the objective errors have factor per step. If , the problem separates and at most two exact steps suffice. When the condition number is large, the factor approaches one: the iterates zigzag slowly across a narrow tilted valley.