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Linear AlgebraHardEigenvalues

Eigenvalues · Hard problem

A fish population's juveniles jkj_k and adults aka_k evolve each year by jk+1=1.5akj_{k+1} = 1.5a_k (each adult produces 1.51.5 juveniles on average) and ak+1=0.4jk+(1−h)aka_{k+1} = 0.4j_k + (1-h)a_k, where hh is the fraction of adults harvested each year. The population is exactly sustainable in the long run (neither growing nor shrinking) exactly when 11 is an eigenvalue of the transition matrix A=(01.50.41−h)A = \begin{pmatrix}0 & 1.5\\0.4 & 1-h\end{pmatrix}. Find the harvesting rate hh that makes this true.