Matrices

Matrices is a plural form of a matrix, which is a rectangular array or a

table where numbers or elements are arranged in rows and columns.
They can have any number of columns and rows. Different
operations can be performed on matrices such as addition, scalar
multiplication, multiplication, transposition, etc.

There are certain rules to be followed while performing these matrix

operations like they can be added or subtracted if only they have the
same number of rows and columns whereas they can be multiplied if
only columns in first and rows in second are exactly the same. Let us
understand the different types of matrices and these rules in detail.

Matrices, the plural form of a matrix, are the arrangements of

numbers, variables, symbols, or expressions in a rectangular table
that contains various numbers of rows and columns. They are
rectangular-shaped arrays, for which different operations like
addition, multiplication, and transposition are defined. The numbers
or entries in the matrix are known as its elements. Horizontal entries
of matrices are called rows and vertical entries are known as
columns.

A matrix is a rectangular array of numbers, variables, symbols, or

expressions that are defined for the operations like subtraction,
addition, and multiplications. The size of a matrix (which is known as
the order of the matrix) is determined by the number of rows and
columns in the matrix. The order of a matrix with 6 rows and 4
columns is represented as a 6 × 4 and is read as 6 by 4. For
example, the given matrix B is a 3 × 4 matrix and is written as
[𝐵]3 × 4
:
:
 ⎡ 2 −1 3 5 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
𝐵=⎢0 5 2 7⎥
⎢⎣ 1 −1 −2 9 ⎥⎦

If a matrix has m rows and n columns, then it will have m × n

elements. A matrix is represented by the uppercase letter, in this
case, 'A', and the elements in the matrix are represented by the lower
case letter and two subscripts representing the position of the
element in the number of row and column in the same order, in this
case, '
𝑎𝑖𝑗
', where i is the number of rows, and j is the number of columns. For
example, in the given matrix A, element in the 3rd row and 2nd
column would be
𝑎32
, can be verified in the matrix given below:
:
 ⎡ 𝑎11 𝑎12 𝑎13 . . . 𝑎1𝑛 ⎤
⎢𝑎 ⎥
⎢ 21 𝑎22 𝑎23 . . . 𝑎2𝑛 ⎥
𝐴 = ⎢ 𝑎31 𝑎32 𝑎33 . . . 𝑎3𝑛 ⎥
⎢ : : : : ⎥
⎢⎣ 𝑎𝑚1 𝑎𝑚2 𝑎𝑚3 . . . 𝑎𝑚𝑛 ⎥⎦

We can solve matrices by performing operations on them like

addition, subtraction, multiplication, and so on. Calculating
matrices depends upon the number of rows and columns. For
addition and subtraction, the number of rows and columns must be
the same whereas, for multiplication, number of columns in the first
and the number of rows in the second matrix must be equal. The
basic operations that can be performed on matrices are:

Addition of Matrices
Subtraction of Matrices
Scalar Multiplication
Multiplication of Matrices
Transpose of Matrices

Addition of Matrices

The addition of matrices can only be possible if the number of rows

and columns of both the matrices are the same. While adding 2
matrices, we add the corresponding elments. i.e., (A + B) = [a
𝑖𝑗
] + [b
𝑖𝑗
] = [a
𝑖𝑗
+b
𝑖𝑗
], where i and j are the number of rows and columns respectively. For
example:
⎡ 2 −1 ⎤ ⎡ 0 2 ⎤ ⎡ 2 + 0 −1 + 2 ⎤ ⎡ 2 1 ⎤
⎢ ⎥+⎢ ⎥=⎢ ⎥=⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ 0 5 ⎥⎦ ⎣⎢ 1 −2 ⎦⎥ ⎣ 0 + 1 5 + ( − 2) ⎦ ⎣⎢ 1 3 ⎦⎥
:
 Subtraction of Matrices

Matrices subtraction is also possible only if the number of rows and

columns of both the matrices are the same. While subtracting 2
matrices, we subtract the corresponding elements. i.e., (A - B) = [a
𝑖𝑗
] - [b
𝑖𝑗
] = [a
𝑖𝑗
-b
𝑖𝑗
], where i and j are the row number and column number respectively.
For example:
⎡ 2 −1 ⎤ ⎡ 0 2 ⎤ ⎡ 2 − 0 −1 − 2 ⎤ ⎡ 2 −3 ⎤
⎢ ⎥−⎢ ⎥=⎢ ⎥=⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ 0 5 ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ 1 −2 ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ 0 − 1 5 − ( − 2) ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ −1 7 ⎥⎦

Scalar Multiplication

The product of a matrix A with any number 'c' is obtained by

multiplying every entry of the matrix A by c, is called scalar
multiplication. i.e., (cA)
𝑖𝑗
= c(A
𝑖𝑗
)

Properties of scalar multiplication in matrices

The different properties of matrices for scalar multiplication of any

scalars K and l, with matrices A and B are given as,

K(A + B) = KA + KB
(K + l)A = KA + lA
(Kl)A = K(lA) = l(KA)
(-K)A = -(KA) = K(-A)
1·A = A
(-1)A = -A
:
 Multiplication of Matrices

Matrices multiplication is defined only if the number of columns in

the first matrix and rows in the second matrix are equal. To
understand how matrices are multiplied, let us first consider a row
vector
𝑅 = [𝑟1 𝑟2 . . . 𝑟𝑛 ]
and a column vector
⎡ 𝑐1 ⎤
⎢ 𝑐 ⎥
𝐶=⎢ 2 ⎥
⎢ ⋮ ⎥
⎢⎣ 𝑐𝑛 ⎥⎦
. Then the product of R and C can be defined as

⎡ 𝑐1 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
𝑅𝐶 = [𝑟1 𝑟2 . . . 𝑟𝑛 ] ⎢ ⎥ = [𝑟1 𝑐1 + 𝑟2 𝑐2 + . . . + 𝑟𝑛 𝑐𝑛 ]
𝑐2
⎢ ⋮ ⎥
⎢⎣ 𝑐𝑛 ⎥⎦
. For example,

⎡ 2 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
[1 3 2] ⎢ − 1 ⎥ = [7]
⎣ 4 ⎦

Now, we will discuss matrix multiplication. It will soon become

evident that to multiply 2 matrices A and B and to find AB, the
number of columns in A should equal the number of rows in B.

Let A be of order m × n and B be of order n × p. The matrix AB will be

of order m × p and will be obtained by multiplying each row vector of
A successively with column vectors in B. Let us understand this
using a concrete example:
⎡ 𝑎1 𝑎2 𝑎3 ⎤ ⎡𝛼 𝛽 ⎤
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ 1 1 ⎥
𝐴 = ⎢ 𝑏1 𝑏2 𝑏3 ⎥𝐵 = ⎢ 𝛼1 𝛽2 ⎥
⎢⎣ 𝑐1 𝑐2 𝑐3 ⎥⎦ ⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ 3 3 ⎥⎦
𝛼 𝛽
:
 To obtain the element
𝑎11
of AB, we multiply
𝑅1
of A with
𝐶1
of B :

To obtain the element

𝑎12
of AB, we multiply
𝑅1
of A with
𝐶2
of B:

To obtain the element

𝑎21
of AB, we multiply
𝑅2
of A with
𝐶1
:
 of B:

Proceeding this way, we obtain all the elements of AB.

Let us generalize this: if A is or order m × n, and B of order n × p,

then to obtain the element
𝑎𝑖𝑗
in AB, we multiply
𝑅𝑖
in A with
𝐶𝑗
in B:

Properties of Matrix Multiplication

There are different properties associated with the multiplication of

matrices. For any three matrices A, B, and C:

AB ≠ BA
A(BC) = (AB)C
:
 A(B + C) = AB + AC
(A + B)C = AC + BC
A
𝐼𝑚
= A = AIn, for identity matrices I
𝑚
and In.
A
𝑚×𝑛
O
𝑛×𝑝
=O
𝑚×𝑝
, where O is a null matrix.

Transpose of Matrix

The transpose of a matrix is done when we replace the rows of a

matrix to the columns and columns to the rows. Interchanging of
rows and columns is known as the transpose of matrices. In the
matrix given below, we have row elements as row-1: 2, -3, -4, and
row-2: -1, 7, -7. On transposing, we will get the elements in column-1:
2, -3, -4, and column-2: -1, 7, -7, we can check that in the image
given below:

Properties of transposition in matrices

There are various properties associated with transposition. For

:
 matrices A and B, given as,

(AT)T = A
(A + B)T = AT + BT, A and B being of the same order.
(KA)T= KAT, K is any scalar(real or complex).
(AB)T= BTAT, A and B being conformable for the product AB.
(This is also called reversal law.)

Apart from these operations, we have several other operations on

matrices like finding its trace, determinant, minors and cofactors,
adjoint, inverse, etc. Let us learn each of these in detail in the
upcoming sections.

The trace of any matrix A, Tr(A) is defined as the sum of its diagonal
elements. Some properties of trace of matrices are,

tr(AB) = tr(BA)
tr(A) = tr(AT)
tr(cA) = c tr(A), for a scalar 'c'
tr(A + B) = tr(A) + tr(B)

Determinant of Matrices
The determinant of a matrix is a number defined only for square
matrices. It is used in the analysis of linear equations and their
solution. The determinant formula helps calculate the determinant of
a matrix using the elements of the matrix. Determinant of a matrix is
equal to the summation of the product of the elements of a particular
row or column with their respective cofactors. Determinant of a
matrix A is denoted as |A|. Let say we want to find the determinant of
the matrix
⎡ 𝑎11 𝑎12 𝑎13 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
𝐴 = ⎢ 𝑎21 𝑎22 𝑎23 ⎥
⎣ 𝑎31 𝑎32 𝑎33 ⎦
:
 Then determinant formula of matrix A:

|𝑎 𝑎 | | | | |
𝑎11 ( − 1)1 + 1 || 𝑎22 𝑎23 | + 𝑎 ( − 1)1 + 2 | 𝑎21 𝑎23 | + 𝑎 ( − 1)1 + 3 | 𝑎21 𝑎22 |
| 12 | 𝑎31 𝑎33 | 13 | 𝑎31 𝑎32 |
| 32 33 | | | | |

Minor for a particular element in the matrices is defined as the

determinant of the matrix that is obtained when the row and column
of the matrix in which that particular element lies are deleted, and
the minor of the element
𝑎𝑖𝑗
is denoted as
𝑀𝑖𝑗
. For example, for the given matrix, minor of
𝑎12
of the matrix
⎡ 𝑎11 𝑎12 𝑎13 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
𝐴 = ⎢ 𝑎21 𝑎22 𝑎23 ⎥
⎣ 𝑎31 𝑎32 𝑎33 ⎦
is:

|| 𝑎21 𝑎23 ||
𝑀12 =| |
| 𝑎31 𝑎33 |
| |

Similarly, we can find all the minors of the matrix and will get a minor
matrix M of the given matrix A as:

⎡ 𝑀11 𝑀12 𝑀13 ⎤

⎢ ⎥
𝑀 = ⎢ 𝑀21 𝑀22 𝑀23 ⎥
⎢𝑀 𝑀 𝑀 ⎥
⎣ 31 32 33 ⎦

Cofactor of an element in the matrix A is obtained when the minor

𝑀𝑖𝑗
of the matrix is multiplied with (-1)i+j. The cofactor of a matrix is
denoted as
𝐶𝑖𝑗
. If the minor of a matrix is
𝑀𝑖𝑗
:
 , then the cofactor of the matrix would be:

𝐶𝑖𝑗 = ( − 1)𝑖 + 𝑗 𝑀𝑖𝑗

On finding all the cofactors of the matrix, we will get a cofactor

matrix C of the given matrix A:

⎡ 𝐶11 𝐶12 𝐶13 ⎤

⎢ ⎥
𝐶 = ⎢ 𝐶21 𝐶22 𝐶23 ⎥
⎢𝐶 𝐶 𝐶 ⎥
⎣ 31 32 33 ⎦

Note: Be extra cautious about the negative sign while calculating the
cofactor of the matrix.

The adjoint of matrices is calculated by finding the transpose of the

cofactors of the elements of the given matrices. To find the adjoint of
a matrix, we have to calculate the cofactors of the elements of the
matrix and then transpose the cofactor matrix to get the adjoint of
the given matrix. The adjoint of matrix A is denoted by adj(A). Let us
understand this with an example: We have a matrix
⎡ 2 −1 3 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
𝐴=⎢0 5 2 ⎥
⎢⎣ 1 −1 −2 ⎥⎦

Then the minor matrix M of the given matrix would be:

⎡ −8 −2 −5 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
𝑀 = ⎢ 5 −7 −1 ⎥
⎢⎣ −17 4 10 ⎦⎥

We will get the cofactor matrix C of the given matrix A as:

⎡ −8 2 −5 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
𝐶 = ⎢ −5 −7 1 ⎥
⎢⎣ −17 −4 10 ⎥⎦

Then the transpose of the cofactor matrix will give the adjoint of the
:
 given matrix:

adj(A) = CT =
⎡ −8 −5 −17 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
⎢ 2 −7 −4 ⎥
⎢⎣ −5 1 10 ⎥⎦

The inverse of any matrix is denoted as the matrix raised to the

power (-1), i.e. for any matrix "A", the inverse matrix is denoted as A-
1. The inverse of a square matrix, A is A-1 only when: A × A-1 = A-1 × A

= I. There is a possibility that sometimes the inverse of a matrix does

not exist if the determinant of the matrix is equal to zero(|A| = 0). The
inverse of a matrix is shown by A-1. Matrices inverse is calculated by
using the following formula:

A-1 = (1/|A|)(Adj A)

where

|A| is the determinant of the matrix A and |A| ≠ 0.

Adj A is the adjoint of the given matrix A.

The inverse of a 2 × 2 matrix

⎡ 𝑎11 𝑎12 ⎤
𝐴=⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ 𝑎21 𝑎22 ⎥⎦
is calculated by: A-1 =
⎛ 𝑎22 −𝑎12 ⎞
𝑎11 𝑎22 − 𝑎12 𝑎21 ⎜⎜ −𝑎 ⎟
1
⎝ 21 𝑎11 ⎟⎠

Let us find the inverse of the 3 × 3 matrix we have used in the

previous section:
⎡ 2 −1 3 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
𝐴=⎢0 5 2 ⎥
⎢⎣ 1 −1 −2 ⎥⎦
:
 Since adj(A) =
⎡ −8 −5 −17 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
⎢ 2 −7 −4 ⎥
⎢⎣ −5 1 10 ⎥⎦

And on calculating the determinant, we will get |A| = -33

Therefore, A-1 = (1/-33) ×

⎡ −8 −5 −17 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
⎢ 2 −7 −4 ⎥
⎢⎣ −5 1 10 ⎥⎦

Hence, A-1 =
⎡ 0.24 0.15 0.51 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
⎢ −0.06 0.21 0.12 ⎥
⎢⎣ 0.15 −0.03 −0.39 ⎥⎦

There are various types of matrices based on the number of

elements and the arrangement of elements in them.

Row matrix: A row matrix is a matrix having a single row is called a

row matrix. Example: [1, −2, 4].

Column matrix: A column matrix is a matrix having a single column

is called a column matrix. Example: [−1, 2, 5]T.

Square matrix: A matrix having equal number of rows and columns

is called a square matrix. For example:
⎡1 2 3⎤
⎢ ⎥
𝐵=⎢0 1 4⎥
⎣0 6 1⎦

Rectangular Matrix: A matrix having unequal number of rows and

columns is called a rectangular matrix. For example:
⎡1 2 3⎤
𝐵=⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ 0 1 4 ⎥⎦
:
 Diagonal matrices: A matrix with all non-diagonal elements to be
zeros is known as a diagonal matrix.
Example:
⎡1 0 0⎤
⎢ ⎥
𝐴=⎢0 2 0⎥
⎣0 0 3⎦

Identity matrices: A diagonal matrix having all the diagonal

elements equal to 1 is called an identity matrix.
Example:
⎡1 0 0⎤
⎢ ⎥
𝐵=⎢0 1 0⎥
⎣0 0 1⎦

Symmetric and skew-symmetric matrices:

Symmetric matrices: A square matrix D of size n×n is considered to
be symmetric if and only if DT= D. For example, D =
⎡2 3 6⎤
⎢ ⎥
⎢3 4 5⎥
⎢⎣ 6 5 9 ⎥⎦
is a symmetric matrix because

DT =
⎡2 3 6⎤
⎢ ⎥
⎢ 3 4 5 ⎥
⎢⎣ 6 5 9 ⎥⎦
=D

Skew-symmetric matrices-A square matrix F of size n×n is

considered to be skew-symmetric if and only if FT= - F.

⎡ 0 3⎤
𝐹=⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ −3 0 ⎥⎦
is a skew-symmetric matrix because

FT =
:
 ⎡ 0 −3 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ 3 0 ⎥⎦
-F =
⎡ 0 −3 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ 3 0 ⎥⎦

Invertible Matrix: Any square matrix A is called invertible matrix, if

there exists another matrix B, such that, AB = BA =
𝐼𝑛
, where
𝐼𝑛
is an identity matrix with n × n.

Orthogonal Matrix: Any square matrix A is orthogonal if its

transpose is equal to its inverse. i.e., AT = A-1

Solving a System of Equations Using Matrices

While solving the system of equations using matrices, we have three
matrices A, B, and X where A is known as the coefficient matrix, B is
known as the constant matrix, and X contains all the variables of the
equations which is known as a variable matrix. Matrix A is of the
order m × n, while B is the column matrix of the order m × 1. The
product of matrix A and matrix X results in matrix B; hence, X is a
column matrix as well of the order n × 1.

The matrices are arranged as:

A•X=B

Let's understand how to solve a system of equations using matrices

with the help of an example. We have a set of two equations as given
below. The equations are:

x+y=8
:
 2x + 3y = 10

Arrange all the coefficients, variables, and constants in the matrix in

such a way that whenever we find the product of the matrices, the
result obtained must result in the equation. Then the matrix equation
is, AX = B where:

⎡1 1⎤
𝐴=⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ 2 3 ⎥⎦

⎡𝑥⎤
𝑋=⎢ ⎥
⎣𝑦⎦

⎡ 8 ⎤
𝐵=⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ 10 ⎥⎦

To solve the equations, we need to find matrix X. It can be found by

multiplying the inverse of matrix A with B, which is given as
𝑋 = (𝐴−1 )𝐵
. To find the determinant of matrix A, we will follow the below steps:

|1 1|
| 𝐴 | = || |
|
|2 3|
| |

Hence, |A| = 3 - 2 = 1
∵
|𝐴| ≠ 0
, it is possible to find the inverse of matrix A.

Now, by using the formula for finding the inverse of 2x2 matrix
(which is mentioned in previous sections),

⎡ 3 −1 ⎤
𝐴−1 = ⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ −2 1 ⎥⎦

Now to find the matrix X, we'll multiply

𝐴−1
:
 and B. We get,

⎡ 3 −1 ⎤⎡ 8 ⎤ ⎡ 14 ⎤
⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥ = ⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ −2 1 ⎥⎦⎢⎣ 10 ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ −6 ⎥⎦

Hence, the value of matrix X is,

⎡ 14 ⎤
𝑋=⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ −6 ⎥⎦

The rank of a matrix A is defined as the maximum number of linearly

independent row(or column) vectors of the matrix. That means the
rank of a matrix will always be less than or equal to the number of its
rows or columns. The rank of a null matrix is zero since it has no
independent row or column vectors.

Eigen Values and Eigen Vectors of Matrices

If A is any square matrix of order 'n', a matrix of A - λI can be formed,
where I is a unit matrix of order n, such that the number λ, called the
eigenvalue and a non-zero vector v, called the eigenvector, satisfy
the equation, Av = λv. λ is an eigenvalue of an n×n-matrix A if and
only if A − λIn is not invertible, which is equivalent to Det(A - λI) = 0.

There are different formulas associated with matrix operations

depending upon the type of matrix. Some of the matrices formulas
are listed below:

A(adj A) = (adj A) A = | A | In
| adj A | = | A |n-1
adj (adj A) = | A |n-2 A
| adj (adj A) | = | A |(n-1)^2
adj (AB) = (adj B) (adj A)
adj (Am) = (adj A)m,
:
 adj (kA) = kn-1 (adj A) , k ∈ R
adj(In) = In
adj 0 = 0
A is symmetric (adj A) is also symmetric.
A is diagonal (adj A) is also diagonal.
A is triangular adj A is also triangular.
A is singular | adj A | = 0
A-1 = (1/|A|) adj A
(AB)-1 = B-1A-1

Important Notes on Matrices:

Cofactor of the matrix A is obtained when the minor

𝑀𝑖𝑗
of the matrix is multiplied with (-1)i+j.
Matrices are rectangular-shaped arrays.
The inverse of matrices is calculated by using the given formula:
A-1 = (1/|A|)(adj A).
The inverse of a matrix exists if and only if |A| ≠ 0.

☛Related Topics:

Matrix Calculator
Diagonal Matrix Calculator
Transpose Matrix Calculator
Matrix Addition Calculator
: