linear algebra - Inverse of the sum of matrices

I have two square matrices - $A$ and $B$. $A^{-1}$ is known and I want to calculate $(A+B)^{-1}$. Are there theorems that help with calculating the inverse of the sum of matrices? In general case $B^{-1}$ is not known, but if it is necessary then it can be assumed that $B^{-1}$ is also known.

Answer

In general, $A+B$ need not be invertible, even when $A$ and $B$ are. But one might ask whether you can have a formula under the additional assumption that $A+B$ is invertible.

As noted by Adrián Barquero, there is a paper by Ken Miller published in the Mathematics Magazine in 1981 that addresses this.

He proves the following:

Lemma. If $A$ and $A+B$ are invertible, and $B$ has rank $1$, then let $g=\mathrm{trace}(BA^{-1})$. Then $g\neq -1$ and
$$(A+B)^{-1} = A^{-1} - \frac{1}{1+g}A^{-1}BA^{-1}.$$

From this lemma, we can take a general $A+B$ that is invertible and write it as $A+B = A + B_1+B_2+\cdots+B_r$, where $B_i$ each have rank $1$ and such that each $A+B_1+\cdots+B_k$ is invertible (such a decomposition always exists if $A+B$ is invertible and $\mathrm{rank}(B)=r$). Then you get:

Theorem. Let $A$ and $A+B$ be nonsingular matrices, and let $B$ have rank $r\gt 0$. Let $B=B_1+\cdots+B_r$, where each $B_i$ has rank $1$, and each $C_{k+1} = A+B_1+\cdots+B_k$ is nonsingular. Setting $C_1 = A$, then
$$C_{k+1}^{-1} = C_{k}^{-1} - g_kC_k^{-1}B_kC_k^{-1}$$
where $g_k = \frac{1}{1 + \mathrm{trace}(C_k^{-1}B_k)}$. In particular,
$$(A+B)^{-1} = C_r^{-1} - g_rC_r^{-1}B_rC_r^{-1}.$$

(If the rank of $B$ is $0$, then $B=0$, so $(A+B)^{-1}=A^{-1}$).