Main diagonal

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In linear algebra, the main diagonal of a square matrix is the diagonal which runs from the top left corner to the bottom right corner. For example, the following matrix has 1s down its main diagonal:

[\begin1 & 0 & 0\\0 & 1 & 0\\0 & 0 & 1\end]

A square matrix like the above in which the entries outside the main diagonal are all zero is called a diagonal matrix. The sum of the entries on the main diagonal of a matrix is known as the trace of that matrix.

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