Rows and columns

Rows are numbered from the top down, whereas columns are numbered from left to right.

Order of a matrix

The order of a matrix is a descriptor of how many rows and columns there are in a matrix. Effectively, the order of the matrix is given by: number of rows x number of columns. The order of the previous matrix is 3 x 4.

Types of matrices

Row matrices

A row matrix (or row vector) is a matrix that consists of just one row. Examples of row matrices could be in the order 1 x 4, 1 x 8, 1 x 99.

Column matrices

Column matrices are matrices that consist of only one column. Examples of column matrices

Square matrices

Square matrices describe those with an equal number of rows and columns. Above are two square matrices, one with the order 2×2 and one with the order 3×3

Notation

When referring to elements in a matrix without having specific numbers as substitute, a particular notation to describe the element. As shown above, the row number is indicated before the column number. Sometimes the commas are omitted.

See also:

• Using matrices to represent information