A mathematician’s deliberation in reaching the formal world and students’ world views of the eigentheory

International audience; In this paper we analyzed a mathematician’s journals of 5-day teaching episodes on eigenvalues and eigenvectors in a first-year linear algebra course, as well as his students’ responses to a survey. We employed Tall’s (2013) three world model, to follow the mathematician’s and his students’ movements between the three worlds. The study revealed that despite the mathematician’s efforts in demonstrating a more holistic view of the concepts, many students found linear algebra very abstract and gravitated more toward symbolic thinking.