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Hello gotwood4sale,

Eigenvector, a term from linear algebra, meaning more or less something that stays the same as you manipulate its matrix. What is is about a person that stays the same over time? In what sense are you the same person you were yesterday, last year, or twenty years ago? I get kind of obsessive about questions like that. True, they don't have a lot to do with baseball. But that's a recurring theme of my novels, etc.
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Well I'm not sure it's worthy of a novel or even a very short story, but through my lifetime which includes experiencing...

    The launch of Sputnik.
    Duncan© Yo-Yo's.
    The Cuban Missile crisis.
    Assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK.
    Landing on the moon.
    The Vietnam War.
    Gas lines.
    Patty mix to extend ground beef.
    Watergate.
    Disco.
    Eisenhower,Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, the elder Bush, Clinton, the younger Bush, and Obama.
    Warhol, Anita Bryant, Rex Grossman, Pet Rocks.
    Global warming or cooling.
    Sunblock with glitter.
    Fax machines and the internet.
    Gingko biloba.
    Desert Storm.
    The war in Iraq.
    The war in Afghanistan.
    Pop Tarts©


...through all of that I have never wavered in my complete and utter disgust and distaste for liver!


Wink

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Last edited by gotwood4sale
quote:
Originally posted by John Sundman:

Eigenvector, a term from linear algebra, meaning more or less something that stays the same as you manipulate its matrix.

What is is about a person that stays the same over time?
......But that's a recurring theme of my novels, etc.


Euler, Lagrange, Cauchy, Fourier, Brioschi, Sturm and most likely Liouville have rolled over in their graves and with their heads off with such rubbish.

In linear algebra, scalars, (i.e. numbers) and vectors (i.e. arrows which have both magnitude and direction) are ordinary functions of algebra.

The most important functions in linear algebra are "linear transformations".
Linear transformation can be an array of numbers best represented by a "matrix".
Rather than write f(x), majors with their heads on write M(v) where M is a matrix and v is a vector. The rules for using a matrix to transform a vector are supported by linear algebra.

If the action of a matrix on a vector changes its magnitude but not its direction, then the vector is called an eigenvector of that matrix.

A vector which is "flipped" to point in the opposite direction is also considered an eigenvector.

Each eigenvector is, in effect, multiplied by a scalar, called the eigenvalue corresponding to that eigenvector.

The eigenspace corresponding to one eigenvalue of a given matrix is the set of all eigenvectors of the matrix with that eigenvalue.

QED

Can't wait for the hardback to come out!
Last edited by Bear
Bear,

Thanks! A very succinct explanation!

I guess I'll stay focused on writing novellas about George Orwell, Ronald Reagan, 1984, frozen heads, chaos theory and half-crazy (or maybe much more than half crazy) ideas of mind, and you can handle the linear algebra front.

You probably would enjoy my books; I'll be you a nickel. As noted, the "no back" versions are free.

Any opinions on Twins/Tigers?
Bear,

Further, from Wikipedia: "In general, a matrix acts on a vector by changing both its magnitude and its direction. However, a matrix may act on certain vectors by changing only their magnitude, and leaving their direction unchanged (or, possibly, reversing it). These vectors are the eigenvectors of the matrix."

So maybe what I should have said is that the eigenvector is that which stays the same through a transformation? So in the context, you can multiply the various "me"s by each other and still get me. Or something.

Anyway, going back to the original work of Euler and LaGrange, the significance of "eigenvectors" in their studies was as "principal axes" of rotating bodies; in other words they have a physical meaning that's easy to visualize. So if we imagine, for example, the various instantiations of "Bear" through time, what is it about "Bear" that remains unchanged? What is the "you-ness" of you?

These are the ideas I was kind of alluding to, although in an admittedly imprecise way.

They are explored in some depth (with more mangled mathematical ideas) in both "Cheap Complex Devices" and "The Pains". My first book, "Acts of the Apostles" is a straight-ahead thriller with accurate computer science and molecular biology, but with some pretty "imaginative", shall we say, nanomechanical stuff. It is SF, after all.
quote:
Originally posted by John Sundman:

They are explored in some depth (with more mangled mathematical ideas) in both "Cheap Complex Devices" and "The Pains". My first book, "Acts of the Apostles" is a straight-ahead thriller with accurate computer science and molecular biology, but with some pretty "imaginative", shall we say, nanomechanical stuff. It is SF, after all.

Read my books on wetmachine.com . There's baseball in "Acts of the Apostles", and frozen heads in "The Pains".


How much are you paying HSBBW.com for these ads, or are you just spamming?
John Sundman,

You have some interesting ideas, but let's get back to discussing baseball, and avoid advertising your website in your posts. To be honest, it looks like you are taking this thread off-topic for the purpose of mentioning your books and website.

http://www.hsbaseballweb.com/board_manners.htm
"No Spam or posts containing Advertising are allowed without the express permission of the publishers of the Message Boards."

I've removed the signature line containing your website address from your profile.

Thanks,

Julie
Apologies to all about spamming; I am new here and I have been talking about my books, so that is indeed spammish. I hereby stop talking about them.

However, I got here honestly, when somebody here borrowed an illustration from one of my books, and I commented on it. I didn't just swoop in out of nowhere.

So that's how I got here, but I'll stick around to talk baseball. I'm a baseball fan, after all. I'll leave my sig as it is for now, however. Unless that's also considered a violation of protocol.
Listening to a televised game from the last series between the Twins and Tigers (I think it was on Fox), I was amused at the constant pounding of "Detroit needs the postseason play because of the economy"! I'm sure all the Minnesota fans are relieved to know they're in such good financial shape Wink. It went on and on, as if it would be absolutely UnAmerican to root for the Twins Roll Eyes.

Wait a minute, Julie....I think I've called that #!?@ stadium of ya'll's UnAmerican myself Cool....
Wood:

I'm kinda pulling for the Twins, because of their dramatic run, and because I will be interesting to see just how far MVP Mauer will go this season.

Plus, as a Red Sox fan, I think I've seen about enough Verlander for this year, thank you very much. That guy's a machine. What he did to Sox this year was pitiable to behold. (I suppose it was magnificent to behold for Tigers fans.) Two 100 MPH fastballs by Jason Bay in the eighth freekin' inning? Give me a break.

No, I think it would be lovely to see Minnesota pull this off.

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