# Browsing category matrices

## A Matrix Definition of a Line

Every so often, I see a tweet so marvellous I can't believe it's true. Then I bookmark it and forget about it for months, until I don't know what to write next. An example is @robjlow's message from June: Aren't determinants wonderful? pic.twitter.com/vxIKeS4Lrq — Robert Low (@RobJLow) June 26, 2018

## Eigenvalues

I remember, with a faint feeling of dread, having to calculate the eigenvalues of a matrix. It became routine in the end, but I was recently reminded of the pain when a student asked if there was a shortcut. For a 2-by-2 matrix? Yes. It is up to you, though,

## Ask Uncle Colin: Invariant Lines

Dear Uncle Colin, I've got a matrix, and I'm not afraid to use it. It's $\begin{pmatrix} 3 & -5 \\ -4 & 2\end{pmatrix}$ Apparently, it has invariant lines. Those, I'm afraid of. How do I find them? -- Terrors About Rank, Safely Knowing Inverses Hi, TARSKI! An invariant line of

## How to invert a $3 \times 3$ matrix

So much wasted time. I spent much of my first two years at university cursing the names of Gauss and Jordan, railing at my lecturer (who grim-facedly assured me there were no more useful uses of a student’s thinking time than ham-fistedly rearranging these things), and thinking “there MUST be