eigenvector

/ˈaɪɡənˌvɛktər/
noun
  1. In mathematics, a vector that does not change direction when a linear transformation is applied, only scaling in length.
    • The student calculated the eigenvectors of the matrix for her linear algebra homework.
    • Eigenvectors are used in physics to describe the principal axes of rotation.
    • The algorithm finds the dominant eigenvector to rank web pages by importance.