Gauss–Seidel method

In numerical linear algebra, the Gauss–Seidel method, also known as the Liebmann method or the method of successive displacement, is an iterative method used to solve a system of linear equations. It is named after the German mathematicians Carl Friedrich Gauss and Philipp Ludwig von Seidel. Though it can be applied to any matrix with non-zero elements on the diagonals, convergence is only guaranteed if the matrix is either strictly diagonally dominant, or symmetric and positive definite. It was only mentioned in a private letter from Gauss to his student Gerling in 1823. A publication was not delivered before 1874 by Seidel.

Description

Let ${\textstyle \mathbf {A} \mathbf {x} =\mathbf {b} }$ be a square system of n linear equations, where:

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {A} ={\begin{bmatrix}a_{11}&a_{12}&\cdots &a_{1n}\\a_{21}&a_{22}&\cdots &a_{2n}\\\vdots &\vdots &\ddots &\vdots \\a_{n1}&a_{n2}&\cdots &a_{nn}\end{bmatrix}},\qquad \mathbf {x} ={\begin{bmatrix}x_{1}\\x_{2}\\\vdots \\x_{n}\end{bmatrix}},\qquad \mathbf {b} ={\begin{bmatrix}b_{1}\\b_{2}\\\vdots \\b_{n}\end{bmatrix}}.}$$