I force my students to use this overloaded notation because I want to make very clear to them the commonality of ideas. They need to know that determinant of a

I force my students to use this overloaded notation because I want to make very clear to them the commonality of ideas. They need to know that determinant of a matrix, length of a vector, and absolute value are all ways of measuring "size" in different contexts that fit together into a harmonious whole. abs(Matrix) just doesn't... do that. Doesn't make sense.