or 
 gives the conjugate transpose of 
. 
    
   ConjugateTranspose
or 
 gives the conjugate transpose of 
. 
Details and Options
- ConjugateTranspose[m] is equivalent to Conjugate[Transpose[m]]. »
 
 can be entered as 
ct
 or \[ConjugateTranspose].- ConjugateTranspose[m] can also be given as 
, where 
 can be entered as 
hc
 or \[HermitianConjugate].  - ConjugateTranspose[m] formats as 
 in StandardForm and TraditionalForm. - ConjugateTranspose[m,spec] gives Conjugate[Transpose[m,spec]]. »
 
Examples
open all close allBasic Examples (3)
Scope (11)
Matrices (6)
Conjugate-transpose the matrix and format the result:
Conjugate and transpose a row matrix into a column matrix:
Conjugate and transpose the column matrix back into a row matrix:
ConjugateTranspose[vec] conjugates the entries but does not change the shape of vec:
ConjugateTranspose works for symbolic matrices:
Use ComplexExpand to assume all variables are real:
ConjugateTranspose leaves the identity matrix unchanged:
The conjugate transpose is also sparse:
Transpose a SymmetrizedArray object:
As the matrix is antihermitian, the result is the negation of the original:
Arrays (5)
Conjugate-transpose the first two levels of a rank-3 array, effectively treating it as a matrix of vectors:
Transpose an array of depth 3 using different permutations:
Perform transpositions using TwoWayRule notation:
Transpose levels 2 and 3 of a depth-4 array:
The second and third dimensions have been exchanged:
Get the conjugated leading diagonal by transposing two identical levels:
Applications (10)
Matrix Decompositions (4)
Find the QRDecomposition of 
:
 is unitary, so its inverse is 
:
Reconstruct 
 from the decomposition:
Compute the SchurDecomposition of a matrix 
:
The matrix 
 is unitary, so its inverse is 
:
Reconstruct 
 from the decomposition:
Compute the SingularValueDecomposition of a matrix 
:
The matrices 
 and 
 are unitary, so their inverses are their conjugate transposes:
Reconstruct 
 from the decomposition:
Construct the singular value decomposition of 
, a random 
 complex matrix:
First compute the eigensystem of 
:
The singular values are the square roots of the nonzero eigenvalues:
The 
 matrix is a diagonal matrix of singular values with the same shape as 
:
The 
 matrix has the eigenvectors as its columns:
The 
 matrix has columns of the form 
 for each of the nonzero eigenvalues:
Special Matrices (6)
A Hermitian matrix obeys 
, an antihermitian matrix 
. This matrix is Hermitian:
Confirm with HermitianMatrixQ:
Confirm with AntihermitianMatrixQ:
A matrix is unitary if 
. Check if the matrix 
 is unitary:
Confirm that it is unitary using UnitaryMatrixQ:
A Hermitian matrix is unitarily diagonalizable as 
, with 
 diagonal and real valued and 
 unitary. Verify that the following matrix is Hermitian and then diagonalize it:
To diagonalize, first compute 
's eigenvalues and place them in a diagonal matrix:
Next, compute the unit eigenvectors:
Then 
 can be diagonalized with 
 as previously, and 
:
An antihermitian matrix is unitarily diagonalizable as 
, with 
 diagonal and imaginary valued and 
 unitary. Verify that the following matrix is antihermitian and then diagonalize it:
To diagonalize, first compute 
's eigenvalues and place them in a diagonal matrix:
Next, compute the unit eigenvectors:
Then 
 can be diagonalized with 
 as previously, and 
:
An unitary matrix is itself unitarily diagonalizable as 
, with 
 unitary and 
 diagonal with entries that lie on the unit circle. Verify that the following matrix is unitary and then diagonalize it:
The eigenvalues all lie on the unit circle:
Place the eigenvalues in a diagonal matrix:
Normalize the eigenvectors and place them in a column matrix:
A matrix 
 is called normal if 
. Normal matrices are the most general kind of matrix that can be unitarily diagonalized as 
 with 
 diagonal and 
 unitary. All Hermitian matrices 
 are normal because both sides of the equality are simply 
:
Similarly, all antihermitian matrices are normal because both sides of the equality are simply 
:
Unitary matrices are normal, as substituting in the definition 
 gives an identity matrix on both sides:
Show that the following matrix is normal, then diagonalize it:
Confirm using NormalMatrixQ:
A normal matrix like 
 can be unitarily diagonalized using Eigensystem:
The entries on the diagonal can be arbitrary complex numbers:
Normalizing the eigenvectors and putting them in columns gives a unitary matrix:
Properties & Relations (10)
ConjugateTranspose[m] is equivalent to Conjugate[Transpose[m]]:
ConjugateTranspose obeys 
:
For compatible matrices 
 and 
, ConjugateTranspose obeys 
:
Matrix inversion commutes with ConjugateTranspose, i.e. 
:
Many special matrices are defined by their properties under ConjugateTranspose. A Hermitian matrix has 
:
The product of a matrix and its conjugate transpose is Hermitian:
 is the matrix product of 
 and 
:
The sum of a square matrix and its conjugate transpose is Hermitian:
The difference is antihermitian:
Transposition of {{}} returns {}:
The result cannot be {{}} again because the permutation of the dimensions {1,0} is {0,1} and no expression can have dimensions {0,1}:
ConjugateTranspose[a] transposes the first two levels of an array:
ConjugateTranspose[a,perm] returns an array of dimensions Permute[Dimensions[a],perm]:
Tech Notes
Related Guides
History
Introduced in 2004 (5.1) | Updated in 2025 (14.3)
Text
Wolfram Research (2004), ConjugateTranspose, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ConjugateTranspose.html (updated 2025).
CMS
Wolfram Language. 2004. "ConjugateTranspose." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2025. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ConjugateTranspose.html.
APA
Wolfram Language. (2004). ConjugateTranspose. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ConjugateTranspose.html
BibTeX
@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_conjugatetranspose, author="Wolfram Research", title="{ConjugateTranspose}", year="2025", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ConjugateTranspose.html}", note=[Accessed: 03-November-2025]}
BibLaTeX
@online{reference.wolfram_2025_conjugatetranspose, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={ConjugateTranspose}, year={2025}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ConjugateTranspose.html}, note=[Accessed: 03-November-2025]}