Glossary
Eigenvector
by Frank Zickert
An eigenvector of a square matrix is a nonzero vector whose direction doesn’t change when the matrix is applied to it—it only gets scaled by a factor called the eigenvalue. In equation form: , where is the matrix, the eigenvector, and the eigenvalue. Eigenvectors show the “principal directions” in which a linear transformation acts by simple stretching or compressing.