A review of the matrix and its operations

A matrix is used for operations that require storing more than three or four values, as in a vector, such as a rotation of a vector or a perspective change for all objects in a scene.

The matrix data type consists of rows and columns, creating a 2D collection of elements. All elements of the matrix must have the same data type.

Let’s start with the mathematical representation to get an understanding of what a matrix is.

Matrix representation

A matrix is written as a grid of elements, and the elements are identified by the indices for the row (first index) and the column (second index) of their position. The dimensions of a matrix are given as rows x columns, so a 2 x 3 matrix has 2 rows and 3 columns.

These two matrices, A and B, have the dimensions 2 x 2 and 3 x 3:

Null matrix and identity matrix

As with vectors, matrices also have two types with special meanings:

• The identity matrix is one of the most...