OP here: Your approach is pretty on point because Planetary Motion was actually the first recorded motivation for eigenvectors. Cauchy published a paper on plan

OP here: Your approach is pretty on point because Planetary Motion was actually the first recorded motivation for eigenvectors. Cauchy published a paper on planetary motion in 1829 which made use of what we now call Eigenvectors. See here for more info: https://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/math-origins-eigenvectors-and-eigenvalues https://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/math-origi...