R help - Nov 2010 - Exponent of asymmetric matrix

Dear Experts,

the exponent of asymmetric matrix makes me very curious.
can anyone please explain to me "what will happen if we apply exponent to
the asymmetric matrix"?

Thank you very much 
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> the exponent of asymmetric matrix makes me very curious.
> can anyone please explain to me "what will happen if we apply exponent
to
> the asymmetric matrix"?
The gates of Hell will open, the world will come to an end, and we
will all perish in a firestorm :)

Sorry, couldn't resist. Exponentiating a non-symmetric (or
anti-symmetric) matrix is no different from exponentiating a symmetric
matrix. For example the matrix T = cbind(c(0, 1), c(-1, 0)), i.e.

     [,1] [,2]
[1,]    0   -1
[2,]    1    0

generates rotations in the xy plane, that is exp(alpha * T) is the
rotation matrix in the xy plane by angle alpha.

Peter