"The Matrix", usage and history of the term

[Heartsong]

I first heard of the term "Matrix" when I saw the movie. Since then, on the forum and elsewhere, the term is casually inserted into many diverse subjects.
Are we agreed on the definition? Does anyone know where the words "The Matrix" and it's modern meaning comes from?

[Anchor]

It probably started with maths... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_%28mathematics%29

I don't know this for a fact though. However, if you were going to be concerned with computers and data to express a model - matrices would probably show up sooner or later - they are very important for graphics processing (an essential component of any virtual reality!)

Its a jolly useful term which I use in most contexts as a shorthand referral to the co-created illusion we are currently living and breathing in.

"The Matrix has you"

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by Heartsong (here)
Does anyone know where the words "The Matrix" and it's modern meaning comes from?

From the Oxford English Dictionary (1971), "matrix" comes from a Latin word for "womb". In the 1500's and beyond, it also meant "A place or medium in which something is bred." Since then various other similar definitions involving plants, animals, bodies, rocks, moldings, dentistry and such have come in use. In each case, the matrix is the surrounding or holding body of some items of interest.