A matrix is a rectangular arrangement
of data. In most cases the data in a matrix is
a series of numbers in a specific order used
to store information about an object.
A matrix can be considered a single entity in
itself and is conventionally described by
its dimentions ie the number of rows and columns
it contains. This is a 2x3 matrix as it contains
two rows and three columns:
There are specific rules
and procedures used to manipulate matrices for
example simple operations such as addition or multiplication
of two matrices must follow specific rules which
dictate how to treat each element of each matrix.
Each number that makes up a matrix is called
an element and has a specific address or reference.
Typically an element in a matrix is referenced
by writing row and column coordinate as a subscript
for example for a matrix A each element can be
written:
There are specific rules and procedures
used to manipulate matrices for example simple
operations such as addition or multiplication
of two matrices must follow specific rules which
dictate how to treat each element of each matrix.
There are specific rules
and procedures used to manipulate matrices for
example simple operations such as addition or
In the matrix multiplication above the x and y
coordinates of three pointsare vertically and horizontally
scaled by the 2d scale matrix. I have ignored the
z coordinates in this example but have kept a unit
value (1) where the value would normally be so
that you can see how the 3x3 scale matrix operates
on the 2d points (as the number of columns must
equal the number of rows).
To learn more about matrices
in flash see the [
3D
Matraces Knowledgebase].
