Question: computing all principal minor of a Hessian Matrix

Hi,

I have 6 by 6 Hessian matrix H. I want to check whether it is a negative definite. The rule of negative definite is "if and only if its n leading principlal minors alternate in sign with the kth order leading principal minor should have same sign as (-1)^k".

In my Hessian H, some leading principal minor of H is zero while the nonzero ones follows above rule. So negative definite test fails and Now I have to check negative semidefinite test which state that "H is negative semidefinite if and only if every principal minor of odd order is <=0 and every principal minor of even orderis >=0". So I have to check sign of every principal minor ( instead of just leading principal minor) to check for negative semidefinite of H matrix.

Can anyone help me how can I compute sign of all principal minor of a 6 by 6 square Hessian matrix.

Thanks and Regards,

Nilesh

 

 

 

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