A matrix is an arrangement of numbers, symbols, or items in rows and columns, or a surrounding structure in which something develops. In biology or geology, it can mean the material that holds or surrounds other things.
From Latin “matrix” meaning 'womb, uterus, source', from “mater” 'mother'. It originally meant the place where something is formed or generated. Math later borrowed the term for a structure that 'holds' numbers in an orderly grid.
Before it was a sci‑fi movie or a math table, a matrix was literally a womb—a 'mother place' where things grow. That’s why we still say things like 'the social matrix' to mean the environment that shapes people.
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