ABSTRACT
Computers are best suited for repetitive calculations and for organizing data into specialized forms. In this chapter, we review the matrix and vector notation and their manipulations and applications. Vector is a one-dimensional array of numbers and/or characters arranged as a single column. The number of rows is called the order of that vector. Matrix is an extension of vector when a set of numbers and/or characters are arranged in rectangular form. If it has M rows and Ν column, this matrix then is said to be of order M by N. When M = N, then we say this square matrix is of order Ν (or M). It is obvious that vector is a special case of matrix when there is only one column. Consequently, a vector is referred to as a column matrix as opposed to the row matrix which has only one row. Braces are conventionally used to indicate a vector such as {V} and brackets are for a matrix such as [M].
