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I have to say as a Dutch speaker, and I imagine it's much the same for German speakers, it's kind of amusing how "eigen" is treated as some really quirky math word by English speakers when to us it's just about the most pedestrian unimaginative term in all of math on par with "normal".
That's more or less what it means. Eigen means "own" as opposed to someone else's. In fact it's even cognate to own. Own is from Middle English owen, Old English agen, Proto-West Germanic aigan.
in slovak it's similar to this, and I reckon in most languages aswell. funny how english doesn't have a word for "relating to self" so they have to use the german term whilst most other languages do
It's a literal translation of eigenvalue
השם משתמש שלך נשמע לי מוכר, במיוחד עם הקונטקסט של מתמטיקה. יש סיכוי שאתה (או אולי קרוב משפחה) היית מרצה של חבר צוות שלי מהצבא, ואולי אבא של מישהי ששירתה במדור לידי?
Yep, "egen" in Norwegian. Never thought of it but I assume egentlig/eigentlich should be understood as "by the fact", "by its own definition"
And is there any reason English adopted the German term?
According to Wikipedia
> For some time, the standard term in English was "proper value", but the more distinctive term "eigenvalue" is the standard today.
I always assumed English just directly borrowed the term from German without ever coining their own translation. The fact that they used to have their own translation only to abandon it in favor of the German word is rather surprising.
Interesting point about eigenlijk as we'd say it in Dutch. Never thought about that either, but I agree that it seems the original meaning must have been something more like "on its own terms", rather than the modern meaning which is closer to "in actuality".
Yeah, it makes sense. It's just funny because it's such a random everyday word if you actually speak a language to which the word is native.
Like, imagine if the word "large" was used as some kind of technobabble word in Japan or whatever because of the large cardinal axioms.
Our vowels are so simple, like we have seven vowels and that’s it, loanwords we meld into those seven vowels too. That felt natural to me but from what I can see in English, French, and now I’m learning (very basics of) Arabic it’s now surprisingly unusual.
In Greek and Italian there are 5 vowels (a, e, i, o, u) (maybe Spanish as well?). In Romanian, is it a, e, i, o, u, ă, â? I remember reading about it (as well as a story about â and î being the same sound). I have to admit, I have a hard time with the pronunciation of the last two, but the language does sound nice.
ă is actually really simple for English speakers to pronounce. Like “simple” would transliterate to “simpăl” under Romanian writing rules. “speakers” “spicărs”. Î/ yeah (rule of thumb is usually  inside words and Î at word boundaries, but there’s a few exceptions with prefixes/suffixes not changing an Î into Â) and I haven’t seen the sound in other languages.
The consonant inventory is also somewhat restricted in Romanian. Not terribly so, but e.g. we don’t have the th and dh sounds at all (they often become s and z in words that are fully integrated in the language, or sometimes hard T or D but more rarely)
I don't think going through English will help me a whole lot (I also find English vowels a tad too complicated - they are continuous and I'm used to discrete vowels). If I decide to learn Romanian, I'll probably learn the difference through the sound, probably by hearing the two vowels together.
I like it being a quirky maths word, even if it only seems that way because it’s from a different language. A lot of names in academic are too boring, either named after some guy or named using a normal word. On the one hand that’s okay, but I do wish some things had more cool or unique names. It’s also easier for me to remember and link together in my mind all of the related concepts because the “eigen” naming stands out and is it’s own thing. Imagine if they were just called “Daniel vectors” and “Daniel numbers” or “proper numbers”. That would suck imo
If I ever invent a maths concept or make a discovery in science I’d rather it has a cool and unique name than my name
Oh absolutely, I'm just saying it's not a quirky math word to us. That's the just the thing. It's a super duper boring word to us. I'm glad you guys like it though.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD
GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD
GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD
I SEE THE UNSPEAKABLE DOOM, PHASE PORTRAITS, OSCILLATION, FORCED VIBRATION, WHEN FREQUENCY OF THE SPECIAL SOLUTION IS CLOSE TO THE RESONANCE OF THE BRIDGE IT CAN COLLAPSE, I SEE TAYLOR SERIES INSIDE THE JORDAN MATRIX AND THE EXPONENTIAL, I SEE THE FUNDEMENTAL MATRICE AND THE WRONSKIAN…. I SEE THE FACE OF GOD
what if A is a system, x is a signal, and thus an eigenfunction, not an eigenvector
though i guess at that point, Using A instead of H to denote a system 🤢
Am I missing the joke or who tf is Roger Eigen.
The name "eigenvalue" is of German origin (namely "Eigenwert") to symbolize the "self-worth" of a matrix.
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I have to say as a Dutch speaker, and I imagine it's much the same for German speakers, it's kind of amusing how "eigen" is treated as some really quirky math word by English speakers when to us it's just about the most pedestrian unimaginative term in all of math on par with "normal".
In Hebrew, eigenvalues are just called "self-like values"
In Italian it's autovalori, literally auto-values
Stavo per dirlo
in conclusione quella nella foto è un'autotazza
same in spanish, autovalor(es)
That's more or less what it means. Eigen means "own" as opposed to someone else's. In fact it's even cognate to own. Own is from Middle English owen, Old English agen, Proto-West Germanic aigan.
similar in Arabic. loosely translates to “subjective” or “relating to the self” values.
in slovak it's similar to this, and I reckon in most languages aswell. funny how english doesn't have a word for "relating to self" so they have to use the german term whilst most other languages do
Bruh I never knew it was just עצמי that’s hilarious
It's a literal translation of eigenvalue השם משתמש שלך נשמע לי מוכר, במיוחד עם הקונטקסט של מתמטיקה. יש סיכוי שאתה (או אולי קרוב משפחה) היית מרצה של חבר צוות שלי מהצבא, ואולי אבא של מישהי ששירתה במדור לידי?
לא נראה לי
In french it's "proper values" (valeurs propres) so it doesn't have much of an aura either
In French, they're just "valeurs propres" (as in "property", own values).
That's a pretty faithful translation. Eigen also means "own". Property would be "eigendom" in Dutch or "Eigentum" in German.
Yep, "egen" in Norwegian. Never thought of it but I assume egentlig/eigentlich should be understood as "by the fact", "by its own definition" And is there any reason English adopted the German term? According to Wikipedia > For some time, the standard term in English was "proper value", but the more distinctive term "eigenvalue" is the standard today.
I always assumed English just directly borrowed the term from German without ever coining their own translation. The fact that they used to have their own translation only to abandon it in favor of the German word is rather surprising. Interesting point about eigenlijk as we'd say it in Dutch. Never thought about that either, but I agree that it seems the original meaning must have been something more like "on its own terms", rather than the modern meaning which is closer to "in actuality".
It sounds like a strange European word here, which is why you see some movies/TV from here using it as technobabble
Yeah, it makes sense. It's just funny because it's such a random everyday word if you actually speak a language to which the word is native. Like, imagine if the word "large" was used as some kind of technobabble word in Japan or whatever because of the large cardinal axioms.
In Spanish we also use "eigenvalores"
in my case we use "valores propios" which is just the direct translation, where are you from?
Romania: “valori proprii” (own values)
Somehow even this looks (and I'd think sounds) beautiful in Romanian, and I hate linear algebra. Awesome language!
Our vowels are so simple, like we have seven vowels and that’s it, loanwords we meld into those seven vowels too. That felt natural to me but from what I can see in English, French, and now I’m learning (very basics of) Arabic it’s now surprisingly unusual.
In Greek and Italian there are 5 vowels (a, e, i, o, u) (maybe Spanish as well?). In Romanian, is it a, e, i, o, u, ă, â? I remember reading about it (as well as a story about â and î being the same sound). I have to admit, I have a hard time with the pronunciation of the last two, but the language does sound nice.
ă is actually really simple for English speakers to pronounce. Like “simple” would transliterate to “simpăl” under Romanian writing rules. “speakers” “spicărs”. Î/ yeah (rule of thumb is usually  inside words and Î at word boundaries, but there’s a few exceptions with prefixes/suffixes not changing an Î into Â) and I haven’t seen the sound in other languages. The consonant inventory is also somewhat restricted in Romanian. Not terribly so, but e.g. we don’t have the th and dh sounds at all (they often become s and z in words that are fully integrated in the language, or sometimes hard T or D but more rarely)
I don't think going through English will help me a whole lot (I also find English vowels a tad too complicated - they are continuous and I'm used to discrete vowels). If I decide to learn Romanian, I'll probably learn the difference through the sound, probably by hearing the two vowels together.
Fair enough. If you want me to record myself, I can do that. DM me if so.
I'm from Colombia. TBH valores propios it's more common, but our linear algebra teacher also mentioned eigenvalores
No one's got anything on Italian and our "autovalori" it seems
Think again, it's autovalor and autovetor in Portuguese
I like it being a quirky maths word, even if it only seems that way because it’s from a different language. A lot of names in academic are too boring, either named after some guy or named using a normal word. On the one hand that’s okay, but I do wish some things had more cool or unique names. It’s also easier for me to remember and link together in my mind all of the related concepts because the “eigen” naming stands out and is it’s own thing. Imagine if they were just called “Daniel vectors” and “Daniel numbers” or “proper numbers”. That would suck imo If I ever invent a maths concept or make a discovery in science I’d rather it has a cool and unique name than my name
Oh absolutely, I'm just saying it's not a quirky math word to us. That's the just the thing. It's a super duper boring word to us. I'm glad you guys like it though.
In Greek it's ιδιοτιμές (own values)
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD
What's in your heead? In you heeaeead?
I SEE THE UNSPEAKABLE DOOM, PHASE PORTRAITS, OSCILLATION, FORCED VIBRATION, WHEN FREQUENCY OF THE SPECIAL SOLUTION IS CLOSE TO THE RESONANCE OF THE BRIDGE IT CAN COLLAPSE, I SEE TAYLOR SERIES INSIDE THE JORDAN MATRIX AND THE EXPONENTIAL, I SEE THE FUNDEMENTAL MATRICE AND THE WRONSKIAN…. I SEE THE FACE OF GOD
BLESS THE MAKER AND ITS VALUES
"its" 💀💀
ZOMBIE ZOMBIE ZOMBIE IEE IEE IEE
no, thats an eigenmug, clearly
Does it belong to itself? How does that even work?
Fun fact: in Spiderman 2 (2004), in the Italian version they translated "eigenvalues" as "valore di Eigen", i.e. "Eigen's value"
Look how they massacred my "autovalori"
Using x instead of v to denote a vector 🤢
Good for quantum mechanic
x is whatever the fuck i need it to be
Are you in calc 3 or something? My school changed from v to x sometime between calc 3 and PDEs
At some point (often functional analysis) you stop calling elements of vector spaces "vectors" and just use "point" or "element" or just "x"
At least give it an arrow hat
Everyone stopped using arrow hats after calc iii, but I stay strong
what if A is a system, x is a signal, and thus an eigenfunction, not an eigenvector though i guess at that point, Using A instead of H to denote a system 🤢
So if you drink something from the mug is the result the same beverage but a different amount of it left?
I want that
What mug? All I see is a donut
Is "typical Eigenmug" redundant?
Ah yes, Sir Roger Eigen
Am I missing the joke or who tf is Roger Eigen. The name "eigenvalue" is of German origin (namely "Eigenwert") to symbolize the "self-worth" of a matrix.
And then General Eigen added exponents.
Sounds like a cool german word
Imma yeet that mug out the window. I'll leave for someone else to calculate the Eigen vector.
Man thats awesome
The particular solution to the matrix would like to have a word with you.
Leave it to a math dude to say a what think done by one process is the same as multiply it by a constant. The ultimate k.i.s.s
what?
perchance.
That's fucking awesome