main diagonal
- noun
- /meɪn daɪəˈnæɪəl/
- Specialized
:
diagonal principal
- To perform the calculations, focus only on the values along the main diagonal of the matrix.
Examples
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Ones in the main diagonal and zeros everyplace else.
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Where L is also an n x n matrix with nonzero elements only on and below the main diagonal, i.e.,
Academic text (2000) -
So you have a matrix with ones on the main diagonal and other stuff above that.
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It's a square bunch of numbers and it has twos running down the main diagonal and on the next diagonal.
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Table 3 displays the Z matrix. When compared to the main diagonal, the Z matrix's elements in Table 3 are opposite in terms of sign and equal in terms of absolute value. The smallest of the values that were obtained from the matrix in Table 3 is -0.890. This value for the faculty member characteristic is specified as J.
Academic text (2014) -
This also assumes that only the lower part of the symmetric band matrix is stored as a compact band matrix, with the main diagonal as the top row (row zero) and the next two diagonals as the next two rows of a two-dimensional array.
Academic text (1994) -
In a square matrix, the main diagonal consists of the elements that extend from the top left corner to the bottom right corner.
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When analyzing the square matrix, the critical values lie along the main diagonal, connecting the two corners diagonally.
Synonyms
A line of numbers in a square table that runs from the top left to the bottom right
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'main' = primary and 'diagonal' = a line joining opposite corners, so 'main diagonal' naturally denotes the principal diagonal. This is a regular, cross-linguistic modifier + noun pattern (the primary/principal diagonal), making the phrase immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words and the mathematical context.
Etymology
Main diagonal comes from the picture of a square grid of numbers. The word diagonal means the slanted line from the 'top-left' to the 'bottom-right' and main shows it is the important one, so main diagonal means the numbers on that slanted line.
