Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities includingStack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers.
Visit Stack ExchangeA linear operator (including a matrix) acting on a non-zero *eigenvector* preserves its direction but, in general, scales its magnitude by a scalar quantity *λ* called the *eigenvalue* or characteristic value associated with that eigenvector. Even though it is normally used for linear operators, it may also extend to nonlinear operations, such as Schroeder functional composition, which evoke linear operations.