Do non-square matrices have eigenvalues?

It is not exactly true that non-square matrices can have eigenvalues. Indeed, the definition of an eigenvalue is for square matrices. For non-square matrices, we can define singular values:

Definition: The singular values of a $m \times n$ matrix $A$ are the positive square roots of the nonzero eigenvalues of the corresponding matrix $A^{T}A$. The corresponding eigenvectors are called the singular vectors.

Of course, these have certain properties, that may or may not be useful for what you are trying to study.


Eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a matrix, say $A$, help us find subspaces which are invariant under $A$ (when $A$ is seen as a linear transformation). If $A$ is non-square, then $A:\mathbb{R}^m\rightarrow \mathbb{R}^n$, where $m\neq n$. Hence $Av=\lambda v$ makes no sense, since $Av\notin\mathbb{R}^m$.


Non-square matrices do not have eigenvalues. If the matrix X is a real matrix, the eigenvalues will either be all real, or else there will be complex conjugate pairs.

Source: Wikipedia.