That might all be the case. I would simply like a thoughtful introduction to the topic about where this abstraction comes from. What is the idea behind it and what was the motivation for its invention?<p>After I understand the plain English concept, then give me the math notation and proof and applications.<p>The way it works today is often to simply leave out the first part and I believe this is why many people find it hard to develop intuition and a real understanding of the concept.<p>For man it&#x27;s just there, you memorize it, you apply it, you take the result and simply have faith that it is what you need because some book&#x2F; prof said to solve problem X use eigenvalues.