Muse was Clio / Eigenvalue video, very lightweight / applications, less massy still

[Raphael Saltwood]

Hooper ffs, Clio is the Muse of History. Calliope that of epic poetry!

Eigenvalue vid, right around my speed:
https://youtu.be/5UjQVJu89_Q

A 3 minute video, who’s got that kind of time!?
so a quick summary:
You are in high school. You see your crush.

You are the Eigenvector
The object of your crush is the A matrix
The magnitude of your excitement is the Eigenvalue

(That’s at the very end, the 1st 150 seconds define terms and give examples with helpful pictures)

Mr Hooper, does this definition accord with your concept? It sounds more like you were thinking about translations of points and shapes, and/or projective geometry.

Eigenvalue (my best guess) is one of the measures of transformation of a vector within a coordinate system. A value that you can apply to one thing to get another thing, or, that possessing which you can know something about the relationship between them. (So it isn’t quite accurate to say the Eigenvalue is the transformed thing, is it?)(or to use it as a synonym for how one changes in changing circumstances, although that is something it would be quite nice to have a shorthand for)(like how Slothrop morphs all over the place)

Still, it did sound like you were enjoying a burst of enthusiasm for Pynchon. In that spirit, may I share a thought or two? I didn’t say they would cohere.

Iceland Spar, the two images could be eigenvalues of something. If your definition were valid. But they would be more like the eigenvector and the A matrix, whereas the Eigenvalue would be the offset of one from the other, wouldn’t it? Or the offset of either from an unaltered perspective?

Frequently occurring word in articles about eigenvalues is “matrix.” One of the articles put it poetically, that an Eigenvalue is a way to see into the heart of a matrix. Such passion.

Eigenvalue the way you were using it, Hooper, applying to Mondaugen at Foppl’s house party —-

If we posit a particular Eigenvector, see him as young TRP - or geez, why pick on the author, say any intelligent young person - becoming aware of injustice around him (and joining in, against his superego, but in accordance - perhaps, if Freud is to be given Creedence - with his id) while still trying to turn his attention to the heavens and science, eventually interpreting the sferics as “the world is all that the case is” - one of those slightly maddening tautologies like “it is what it is” or “the beatings will continue until morale improves” that let you function without probing the implications, or if probed let you function with an altered regard to them (the measure of disparity quantified by its own Eigenvalue) - Mondaugen would be the Eigenvector, celestial knowledge the A matrix, and the strength of the (somewhat dubious) inspiration that forces the data into a Wittgenstein aphorism would be the Eigenvalue.

Like Mason and Dixon going out in pursuit of scientific knowledge and becoming embroiled in England’s war with Napoleonic France, lurching around the ship in a battle that was no part of their remit, or Kit aboard the Stupendica. Their journey was taking place within a warlike matrix, but their goals and motivation existed within a different matrix. So Eigenvalue (the quantity rather than the dentist) could be the conversion factor?

I can see why one could become interested in applying this Eigenvalue concept; indeed, one could ease halfway into developing a theory of at least certain aspects of “the Pynchon novel” based on it.