Spectral distributions and isospectral sets of tridiagonal matrices

We analyze the correspondence between finite sequences of finitely supported probability distributions and finite-dimensional, real, symmetric, tridiagonal matrices. In particular, we give an intrinsic description of the topology induced on sequences of distributions by the usual Euclidean structure on matrices. Our results provide an analytical tool with which to study ensembles of tridiagonal matrices, important in certain inverse problems and integrable systems. As an application, we prove that the Euler characteristic of any generic isospectral set of symmetric, tridiagonal matrices is a tangent number.