#include USING_PART_OF_NAMESPACE_EIGEN using namespace std; template Eigen::Column firstColumn(MatrixBase& m) { return m.col(0); } int main(int, char**) { Matrix4d m = Matrix4d::identity(); cout << firstColumn(m) << endl; firstColumn(m) *= 5; cout << "Now the matrix m is:" << endl << m << endl; return 0; }