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This post says
The main diagonal of a matrix consists of those elements that lie on the diagonal that runs from top left to bottom right.
Is it also clear when I rewrite that as
"The main diagonal of a matrix is the collection of entries that run from the top left to bottom right"?
Actually, the "collection of entries" is adapted from wikipedia
Generally, sure. You can rewrite it as what you suggest.
Academically, no, you cannot interchange words in that way. As you get into a discipline, you have to use very controlled terminology. Synonyms for words may have a slightly nuanced and different meaning.
In math, a collection is a set of distinct objects. I have never seen elements of a matrix referred to as a collection, and I would you cannot call the elements in the main diagonal a collection. I have, however, seen a group of rows or columns referred to as a collection.
Entries can be used to describe a matrix's elements, but "elements" is more common.
