Chapter 7: EigenStuff
Eigen (pronounced EYE-GUN) is a German prefix to words such as eigentum (property), eigenschaft (a feature or characteristic), and eigensinn (an idiosyncrasy). To sum up, we are looking for some values and vectors that are characteristic, idiosyncratic, and a property of something. What is that something? That something is our old friend the linear operator and its representations as square matrices. But before we get there, we'll need to look at some other concepts such as the matrix inverse and determinant. We'll wrap it all up with the trace of a matrix and some properties that the trace, determinant, and eigenvalues all share. These concepts will allow us to reach even further heights in the chapters that follow.
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access