I know this is a beginner question, so thanks for taking the time.I've been recently looking at PCA . I've browsed the forums for the many thread on this subject already, but I think I'm missing a simple point somewhere. Probably because of the current horrible state of my maths, which I'm currently trying to fix. In the meantime:If I generate the first 3 eigenvectors and eigenvalues can I use these values to say somthing like this:According to PC1 if x term increases by y then x2 term will increase by y2? And then the same for PC2 with increasing replaced with increase/decrease depending on the sign of the member of the eigenvector. The reason I ask is I see that these weightings are used to construct spreads with are neutral wrt certain movements described by one of the PCs. But how do you convert those numbers generated by the vector into weights? Now these two points are obviously related, but I'm screwin' up somewhere...Am I looking at this completely incorrectly?Also I think this has something to do with the 'factor scores', how do I generate these? If I'm using yield relationships to do the PC, how can I convert these to price? If I'm actually using them as weightings on the contracts to construct the fly shouldn't I use the price relationships to derive the PCs? If so, do the PCS mean the same thing?Sorry for the basic nature of these questions.Thanks in advance.

QuoteOriginally posted by: ReflexI know this is a beginner question, so thanks for taking the time.I've been recently looking at PCA . I've browsed the forums for the many thread on this subject already, but I think I'm missing a simple point somewhere. Probably because of the current horrible state of my maths, which I'm currently trying to fix.It may be simpler to find a better introduction to PCA. A quick search on AlltheWeb for: "principal components" PDF...yielded several introductions which looked reasonably good (I find that online documents stored in Adobe Acrobat format tend to be better written than the usual HTML stuff). Throwing in a language keyword will often produce source code, as well: "principal components" PDF MATLAB-Will Dwinnellhttp://will.dwinnell.com