  Partition functions of eigenvalue matrix models possess a number of very
different descriptions: as matrix integrals, as solutions to linear and
non-linear equations, as tau-functions of integrable hierarchies and as
special-geometry prepotentials, as result of the action of W-operators and of
various recursions on elementary input data, as gluing of certain elementary
building blocks. All this explains the central role of such matrix models in
modern mathematical physics: they provide the basic "special functions" to
express the answers and relations between them, and they serve as a dream model
of what one should try to achieve in any other field.
