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just-an-astronomer t1_iu395bl wrote

Reply to comment by MrMagik14 in ELI5: Why is Google just so dominant? by Arakis-balls

A transition matrix is a big table that measures how connected pages are with other pages. One of Google's co-founders, Larry Page, wrote his thesis on performing specific math on these matrices that rank how well connected they are with other things that are connected well, this method is called Page rank, not because it ranks webpages, but because Larry Page invented it.

There's not really a way to describe the specifics of how Page rank work without knowing some linear algebra. You're looking for a "solution" to the matrix called its eigenvalues and eigenvectors, which is a Linear Algebra concept I can't quite eli5

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Phrygiaddicted t1_iu440va wrote

>eigenvalues and eigenvectors, which is a Linear Algebra concept I can't quite eli5

eigenvectors are just certain vectors that when multiplied by the matrix, still point in the same direction. Aû = û.

eigenvalue is how much that vector gets stretched by. Au = eu.

so it could very crudely be summed up by saying "if you keep following links over and over, where do you likely end up"

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