matrix

noun

1. The cavity or mold in which anything is formed.
2. (archaic)The womb.

   “upon conception the inward orifice of the matrix exactly closeth, so that it commonly admitteth nothing after […]”

   “In very rare cases, when the matrix just goes on pegging away automatically, the doctor can take advantage of that and ease out the second brat who then can be considered to be, say, three minutes younger […]”

3. The metaphorical place where something is made, formed, or given birth.
4. The material or tissue in which more specialized structures are embedded.
5. An extracellular matrix, the material or tissue between the cells of animals or plants.
6. Part of the mitochondrion.
7. The medium in which bacteria are cultured.
8. A table of data.
9. A rectangular arrangement of numbers or terms having various uses such as transforming coordinates in geometry, solving systems of linear equations in linear algebra and representing graphs in graph theory.

   “Theorem (7.5.2) then says that every positive semidefinite matrix is a convex combination of matrices that lie on extreme rays.”

   “Check that the #92;mathcal#123;A#125;(#92;mathcal#123;D#125;)² in the example is itself the adjacency matrix of the indicated digraph:”

   “2007, Gerhard Kloos, Matrix Methods for Optical Layout, SPIE Press, page 25, The matrix describing the reflection at a plane mirror can be obtained by taking the matrix for reflection at a spherical reflector and letting the radius of the spherical mirror tend to infinity.”

   “The Fibonacci numbers have been widely studied, and the different ways to generate those numbers have gained continued interest, among them matrix methods [10], determinants [5], permanents [6], Pascal’s triangle [9], binomial coefficients [3], and many others [8]. […] In [1] two tridiagonal Toeplitz matrices were presented […]”

10. A two-dimensional array.
11. (alt-of, figuratively, slang)Alternative letter-case form of Matrix; a controlled environment or situation in which people behave in ways that conform to pre-determined roles.

    “He'd operated on an almost permanent adrenaline high, a byproduct of youth and proficiency, jacked into a custom cyberspace deck that projected his disembodied consciousness into the consensual hallucination that was the matrix.”

    “Mari Otsu, a 25-year-old Japanese-Hawaiian artist, tells me she was “desperately lonely” while she was studying at New York University, when she “realised that [she]^([sic]) was in the matrix”. I ask her what she means.”

12. A grid-like arrangement of electronic components, especially one intended for information coding, decoding or storage.

    “Any type of core or diode matrix used to derive the decoding of these codes would amount to a rather large volume of terminals for just the 17,500 terminals alone.”

    “The transistor matrix in the encoder supplies the sequential gates.”

    “A transistor-diode matrix is composed of vertical and horizontal wires with a transistor at each intersection.”

    “Robot controllers range in complexity from simple stepping switches through pneumatic logic sequencers, diode matrix boards, electronic sequencers, and microprocessors to minicomputers.”

    “Diode matrix is the most fundamental of all ROM structure.”

13. A geological matrix.
14. The sediment surrounding and including the artifacts, features, and other materials at a site.
15. The environment from which a given sample is taken.
16. (historical)In hot metal typesetting, a mold for casting a letter.
17. (historical)In printmaking, the plate or block used, with ink, to hold the image that makes up the print.
18. The five simple colours (black, white, blue, red, and yellow) from which all the others are formed.
19. (material)A binding agent of composite materials, e.g. resin in fibreglass.
20. Matrix clause is a clause that has another (subordinate) clause embedded within it.

name

1. A simulated reality to which many humans are connected. In some works created by sentient machines to subdue humans.

   ““The matrix has its roots in primitive arcade games,” said the voice-over, “in early graphics programs and military experimentation with cranial jacks.” […] “Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts … A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. […]””

   “Now some folks want to claim that we're in the Matrix right now (or that the physical world is an illusion).”

   “2017, Chuck Lorre Productions #557 (post-episode text), "The Recollection Dissipation", The Big Bang Theory Recent events have made it abundantly clear that the fabric of the universe is unraveling. Reality as you know it, the matrix if you will, is dissolving.”

2. (figuratively)A social institution or apparatus perceived as largely deceptive or illusory.

   “They claimed that Paraguay’s accommodating immigration laws have proved attractive to Germans who want to “escape the matrix” and flee the “deep state and one world order”.”