# NAG FL Interfacef04jgf (real_​gen_​solve)

## 1Purpose

f04jgf finds the solution of a linear least squares problem, $Ax=b$, where $A$ is a real $m$ by $n\left(m\ge n\right)$ matrix and $b$ is an $m$ element vector. If the matrix of observations is not of full rank, then the minimal least squares solution is returned.

## 2Specification

Fortran Interface
 Subroutine f04jgf ( m, n, a, lda, b, tol, svd, work,
 Integer, Intent (In) :: m, n, lda, lwork Integer, Intent (Inout) :: ifail Integer, Intent (Out) :: irank Real (Kind=nag_wp), Intent (In) :: tol Real (Kind=nag_wp), Intent (Inout) :: a(lda,n), b(m) Real (Kind=nag_wp), Intent (Out) :: sigma, work(lwork) Logical, Intent (Out) :: svd
#include <nag.h>
 void f04jgf_ (const Integer *m, const Integer *n, double a[], const Integer *lda, double b[], const double *tol, logical *svd, double *sigma, Integer *irank, double work[], const Integer *lwork, Integer *ifail)
The routine may be called by the names f04jgf or nagf_linsys_real_gen_solve.

## 3Description

The minimal least squares solution of the problem $Ax=b$ is the vector $x$ of minimum (Euclidean) length which minimizes the length of the residual vector $r=b-Ax$.
The real $m$ by $n\left(m\ge n\right)$ matrix $A$ is factorized as
 $A=Q R 0$
where $Q$ is an $m$ by $m$ orthogonal matrix and $R$ is an $n$ by $n$ upper triangular matrix. If $R$ is of full rank, then the least squares solution is given by
 $x= R-1 0 QTb.$
If $R$ is not of full rank, then the singular value decomposition of $R$ is obtained so that $R$ is factorized as
 $R=UDVT,$
where $U$ and $V$ are $n$ by $n$ orthogonal matrices and $D$ is the $n$ by $n$ diagonal matrix
 $D=diagσ1,σ2,…,σn,$
with ${\sigma }_{1}\ge {\sigma }_{2}\ge \cdots \ge {\sigma }_{n}\ge 0$, these being the singular values of $A$. If the singular values ${\sigma }_{k+1},\dots ,{\sigma }_{n}$ are negligible, but ${\sigma }_{k}$ is not negligible, relative to the data errors in $A$, then the rank of $A$ is taken to be $k$ and the minimal least squares solution is given by
 $x=V S-1 0 0 0 UT 0 0 I QTb,$
where $S=\mathrm{diag}\left({\sigma }_{1},{\sigma }_{2},\dots ,{\sigma }_{k}\right)$.
The routine also returns the value of the standard error
 $σ = rTr m-k , if ​m>k, = 0, if ​m=k,$
${r}^{\mathrm{T}}r$ being the residual sum of squares and $k$ the rank of $A$.

## 4References

Lawson C L and Hanson R J (1974) Solving Least Squares Problems Prentice–Hall

## 5Arguments

1: $\mathbf{m}$Integer Input
On entry: $m$, the number of rows of a.
Constraint: ${\mathbf{m}}\ge {\mathbf{n}}$.
2: $\mathbf{n}$Integer Input
On entry: $n$, the number of columns of ${\mathbf{a}}$.
Constraint: $1\le {\mathbf{n}}\le {\mathbf{m}}$.
3: $\mathbf{a}\left({\mathbf{lda}},{\mathbf{n}}\right)$Real (Kind=nag_wp) array Input/Output
On entry: the $m$ by $n$ matrix $A$.
On exit: if svd is returned as .FALSE., a is overwritten by details of the $QR$ factorization of $A$.
If svd is returned as .TRUE., the first $n$ rows of a are overwritten by the right-hand singular vectors, stored by rows; and the remaining rows of the array are used as workspace.
4: $\mathbf{lda}$Integer Input
On entry: the first dimension of the array a as declared in the (sub)program from which f04jgf is called.
Constraint: ${\mathbf{lda}}\ge {\mathbf{m}}$.
5: $\mathbf{b}\left({\mathbf{m}}\right)$Real (Kind=nag_wp) array Input/Output
On entry: the right-hand side vector $b$.
On exit: the first $n$ elements of b contain the minimal least squares solution vector $x$. The remaining $m-n$ elements are used for workspace.
6: $\mathbf{tol}$Real (Kind=nag_wp) Input
On entry: a relative tolerance to be used to determine the rank of $A$. tol should be chosen as approximately the largest relative error in the elements of $A$. For example, if the elements of $A$ are correct to about $4$ significant figures then tol should be set to about $5×{10}^{-4}$. See Section 9 for a description of how tol is used to determine rank. If tol is outside the range $\left(\epsilon ,1.0\right)$, where $\epsilon$ is the machine precision, the value $\epsilon$ is used in place of tol. For most problems this is unreasonably small.
7: $\mathbf{svd}$Logical Output
On exit: is returned as .FALSE. if the least squares solution has been obtained from the $QR$ factorization of $A$. In this case $A$ is of full rank. svd is returned as .TRUE. if the least squares solution has been obtained from the singular value decomposition of $A$.
8: $\mathbf{sigma}$Real (Kind=nag_wp) Output
On exit: the standard error, i.e., the value $\sqrt{{r}^{\mathrm{T}}r/\left(m-k\right)}$ when $m>k$, and the value zero when $m=k$. Here $r$ is the residual vector $b-Ax$ and $k$ is the rank of $A$.
9: $\mathbf{irank}$Integer Output
On exit: $k$, the rank of the matrix $A$. It should be noted that it is possible for irank to be returned as $n$ and svd to be returned as .TRUE.. This means that the matrix $R$ only just failed the test for nonsingularity.
10: $\mathbf{work}\left({\mathbf{lwork}}\right)$Real (Kind=nag_wp) array Output
On exit: if svd is returned as .FALSE., then the first $n$ elements of work contain information on the $QR$ factorization of $A$ (see argument a above), and ${\mathbf{work}}\left(n+1\right)$ contains the condition number ${‖R‖}_{E}{‖{R}^{-1}‖}_{E}$ of the upper triangular matrix $R$.
If svd is returned as .TRUE., then the first $n$ elements of work contain the singular values of $A$ arranged in descending order and ${\mathbf{work}}\left(n+1\right)$ contains the total number of iterations taken by the $QR$ algorithm. The rest of work is used as workspace.
11: $\mathbf{lwork}$Integer Input
On entry: the dimension of the array work as declared in the (sub)program from which f04jgf is called.
Constraint: ${\mathbf{lwork}}\ge 4×{\mathbf{n}}$.
12: $\mathbf{ifail}$Integer Input/Output
On entry: ifail must be set to $0$, . If you are unfamiliar with this argument you should refer to Section 4 in the Introduction to the NAG Library FL Interface for details.
For environments where it might be inappropriate to halt program execution when an error is detected, the value is recommended. If the output of error messages is undesirable, then the value $1$ is recommended. Otherwise, if you are not familiar with this argument, the recommended value is $0$. When the value is used it is essential to test the value of ifail on exit.
On exit: ${\mathbf{ifail}}={\mathbf{0}}$ unless the routine detects an error or a warning has been flagged (see Section 6).

## 6Error Indicators and Warnings

If on entry ${\mathbf{ifail}}=0$ or $-1$, explanatory error messages are output on the current error message unit (as defined by x04aaf).
Errors or warnings detected by the routine:
${\mathbf{ifail}}=1$
On entry, ${\mathbf{lda}}=〈\mathit{\text{value}}〉$ and ${\mathbf{m}}=〈\mathit{\text{value}}〉$.
Constraint: ${\mathbf{lda}}\ge {\mathbf{m}}$.
On entry, lwork is too small. Minimum size required: $〈\mathit{\text{value}}〉$.
On entry, ${\mathbf{m}}=〈\mathit{\text{value}}〉$ and ${\mathbf{n}}=〈\mathit{\text{value}}〉$.
Constraint: ${\mathbf{m}}\ge {\mathbf{n}}$.
On entry, ${\mathbf{n}}=〈\mathit{\text{value}}〉$.
Constraint: ${\mathbf{n}}\ge 1$.
${\mathbf{ifail}}=2$
The $QR$ algorithm has failed to converge to the singular values in $50×{\mathbf{n}}$ iterations. This failure can only happen when the singular value decomposition is employed, but even then it is not likely to occur.
${\mathbf{ifail}}=-99$
See Section 7 in the Introduction to the NAG Library FL Interface for further information.
${\mathbf{ifail}}=-399$
Your licence key may have expired or may not have been installed correctly.
See Section 8 in the Introduction to the NAG Library FL Interface for further information.
${\mathbf{ifail}}=-999$
Dynamic memory allocation failed.
See Section 9 in the Introduction to the NAG Library FL Interface for further information.

## 7Accuracy

The computed factors $Q$, $R$, $U$, $D$ and ${V}^{\mathrm{T}}$ satisfy the relations
 $Q R 0 =A+E,$
 $Q U 0 0 I D 0 VT=A+F,$
where
 $E2≤c1ε A2,$
 $F2≤c2εA2,$
$\epsilon$ being the machine precision, and ${c}_{1}$ and ${c}_{2}$ being modest functions of $m$ and $n$. Note that ${‖A‖}_{2}={\sigma }_{1}$.
For a fuller discussion, covering the accuracy of the solution $x$ see Lawson and Hanson (1974), especially pages 50 and 95.

## 8Parallelism and Performance

f04jgf is threaded by NAG for parallel execution in multithreaded implementations of the NAG Library.
f04jgf makes calls to BLAS and/or LAPACK routines, which may be threaded within the vendor library used by this implementation. Consult the documentation for the vendor library for further information.
Please consult the X06 Chapter Introduction for information on how to control and interrogate the OpenMP environment used within this routine. Please also consult the Users' Note for your implementation for any additional implementation-specific information.

If the least squares solution is obtained from the $QR$ factorization then the time taken by the routine is approximately proportional to ${n}^{2}\left(3m-n\right)$. If the least squares solution is obtained from the singular value decomposition then the time taken is approximately proportional to ${n}^{2}\left(3m+19n\right)$. The approximate proportionality factor is the same in each case.
This routine is column biased and so is suitable for use in paged environments.
Following the $QR$ factorization of $A$ the condition number
 $cR=RE R-1E$
is determined and if $c\left(R\right)$ is such that
 $cR×tol>1.0$
then $R$ is regarded as singular and the singular values of $A$ are computed. If this test is not satisfied, $R$ is regarded as nonsingular and the rank of $A$ is set to $n$. When the singular values are computed the rank of $A$, say $k$, is returned as the largest integer such that
 $σk>tol×σ1,$
unless ${\sigma }_{1}=0$ in which case $k$ is returned as zero. That is, singular values which satisfy ${\sigma }_{i}\le {\mathbf{tol}}×{\sigma }_{1}$ are regarded as negligible because relative perturbations of order tol can make such singular values zero.

## 10Example

This example obtains a least squares solution for $r=b-Ax$, where
 $A= 0.05 0.05 0.25 -0.25 0.25 0.25 0.05 -0.05 0.35 0.35 1.75 -1.75 1.75 1.75 0.35 -0.35 0.30 -0.30 0.30 0.30 0.40 -0.40 0.40 0.40 , b= 1 2 3 4 5 6$
and the value tol is to be taken as $5×{10}^{-4}$.

### 10.1Program Text

Program Text (f04jgfe.f90)

### 10.2Program Data

Program Data (f04jgfe.d)

### 10.3Program Results

Program Results (f04jgfe.r)