Amat r

ix(pl
uralmatr
ices)issortofli
kea“box”ofinf
ormati
onwherey ouar
ekeepingtrackof
thi
ngsbothri
ghtandl ef
t(col
umns) ,andupanddown( rows)
.Usuall
yamat r
ixcontai
ns
numbersoralgebr
aicexpressions.Youmayhav eheardmatri
cescal
ledarr
ays,especi
all
yin
computersci
ence.

Asanexample,ify
ouhadthreesist
ers,andyouwantedaneasywaytostoret
hei
rageand
numberofpai
rsofshoes,youcouldstoret
hisi
nfor
mationi
namat r
ix.Theact
ual
matri
xis
i
nsideandi
ncludesthebr
ackets:

Ashl
eyEmmaChl
oeAgeNumberofPai
rsofShoes[
23518231512]

Matr
icesarecal
l
edmulti
-di
mensi
onalsi
ncewehavedat
abeingstoredindi
ff
erentdi
recti
onsi
n
agri
d.Thedimensi
onsofthi
smatri
xare“2x3”or“2by3”,si
ncewehav e2rowsand3
col
umns.(Youalway
sgodownf i
rst
,andthenov
ert
ogetthedimensionsoft
hemat r
ix).

Again,matr
icesaregreatforst
ori
ngnumber sandvari
ables–andalsogr eatforsolv
ing
systemsofequati
ons, whichwe’
ll
seelater
.Eachnumberorv ari
abl
einsidet hematri
xiscall
ed
anent r
yorelement,
andcanbei denti
fi
edbysubscript
s.Forexample,f
ort hemat r
ixabove,
“Ashley’
snumberofpai r
sofshoes(5)”wouldbeident
ifi
edasa2,1,
sincei t
’sonthe2ndr owand
i
t’sthe1stentr
y.

Addi
ngandSubt
ract
ingMat
ri
ces

Let
’sl
ookatamat
ri
xthatcont
ainsnumber
sandseehowwecanaddandsubt
ractmat
ri
ces.

Let’
ssayy ou’
rei
nav i
dreader,andi
nJune,July,andAugusty our
eadfict
ionandnon-fict
ion
books, andmagazines,bot
hi npapercopi
esandonl ine.Youwanttokeeptrackofhowmany
diff
erenttypesofbooksandmagazi nesyouread, andstoret
hati
nformati
oni nmatr
ices.Herei
s
thatinf
or mati
on,andhowi twouldl
ookinmat r
ixform:

June Jul
y August
PaperOnl
i
ne

Fi
cti
on2 4

Non-
Fict
ion 3 1

Magazi
nes 4 5

Paper

Onl
i
ne

Fi
cti
on3 2

Non-
Fict
ion 1 1

Magazi
nes 5 3

Paper

Onl
i
ne

Fi
cti
on1 3

Non-
Fict
ion 2 3

Magazi
nes 4 6

Mat
ri
xFor
m:⎡
⎣⎢
234415⎤
⎦⎥

Mat
ri
xFor
m:⎡
⎣⎢
315213⎤
⎦⎥

Mat
ri
xFor
m:⎡
⎣⎢
124336⎤
⎦⎥

Wecanaddmat r
icesi
fthedi
mensionsar
ethesame;sincethethreematr
icesar
eal
l“3by2”
,
wecanaddthem.Forexample,
ifwewantedt
oknowt hetotalnumberofeachty
peof
book/
magazi
newer ead,wecoul
daddeachoftheel
ement stogetthesum:

<
⎡
⎣⎢
234415⎤
⎦⎥
+⎡⎣
⎢315213⎤
⎦⎥
+⎡⎣
⎢124336⎤
⎦⎥
=⎡⎣
⎢2+3+13+1+24+5+44+2+31+1+35+3+6⎤
⎦⎥
=⎡⎣
⎢66139514⎤
⎦
⎥

Thuswecouldseethatweread6paperfi
cti
on,
9onlinef
ict
ion,
6papernon-
fi
cti
on,
5onl
i
nenon
-
fi
cti
onbooks,and13paperand14onli
nemagazines.

Wecoul
dal
sosubt
ractmat
ri
cest
hissameway
.

Ifwewantedtoseehowmanybookandmagazi neswewoul dhavereadinAugusti

fwehad
doubledwhatweactual
l
yread,wecoul
dmulti
plytheAugustmatr
ixbythenumber2.Thisis
call
edmatri
xscalarmul
ti
pli
cat
ion;
ascal
ari
sjustasingl
enumbert hatwemulti
plywit
hevery
entr
y.Notethatt
hisi
snotthesameasmult
ipl
ying2mat r
icest
ogether(whi
chwe’ll
gettonext
):

2⎡
⎣⎢
124336⎤
⎦⎥
=⎡⎣
⎢1×22×24×23×23×26×2⎤
⎦⎥
=⎡⎣
⎢2486612⎤
⎦⎥