Etymology

characteristic root

Today it means: An eigenvalue. Full definition →

French racine caractéristique
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The story

  1. French · calque ofracine caractéristique
  2. English todaycharacteristic root

Calque of French racine caractéristique, the term preferred by French mathematician Augustin-Louis Cauchy (1789–1857).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.