matrix

Creates a matrix or converts an object to a matrix.

Syntax

matrix(X)
- X is any object
matrix(n, a[, b[, ...]])
- a, b, ... are numbers

Description

Converting an object to a matrix

If X is any object, matrix(X) returns X as a matrix:

If X is a number, matrix(X) returns a 1×1 matrix containing only X.
If v is a vector, matrix(v) returns v as a single-column matrix.
If L is a two-dimensional list of numbers, e.g. '('(1, 2, 3), '(4, 5, 6)), then matrix(L) returns the corresponding matrix, e.g. ❨❨1, 2, 3❩, ❨4, 5, 6❩❩.
If s is a string, matrix(s) attempts to parse it as a real matrix by splitting it on newlines (rows) and tabs, commas, or semicolons (columns).

To obtain a column matrix from a one-dimensional list of numbers, it is necessary to first convert the list to a vector: matrix(vector('(1, 2, 3))).

To parse a string as a complex matrix, use the ComplexMatrix function.

Creating a matrix from a list of numbers

If n is a positive integer and a, b, ... is a list of number of length nk for some positive integer k, then matrix(n, a, b, ...) is the matrix of size k×n consisting of the numbers a, b, ... in row-major order.

Notes

The matrix function is one of the principal ways of creating a matrix.

Examples

matrix(5, 4, 3, 2, 0, 1, 4, 5, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 5)

⎛4  3  2  0  1⎞
⎜4  5  2  0  1⎟
⎝1  2  3  6  5⎠

matrix(❨4, 1, 2❩)

⎛4⎞
⎜1⎟
⎝2⎠

matrix("1, 2, 3"~¶~"5, 6, 7")

⎛1  2  3⎞
⎝5  6  7⎠

matrix(compute(a⋅b, a, 1, 12, b, 1, 12))

⎛  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10   11   12⎞
⎜  2    4    6    8   10   12   14   16   18   20   22   24⎟
⎜  3    6    9   12   15   18   21   24   27   30   33   36⎟
⎜  4    8   12   16   20   24   28   32   36   40   44   48⎟
⎜  5   10   15   20   25   30   35   40   45   50   55   60⎟
⎜  6   12   18   24   30   36   42   48   54   60   66   72⎟
⎜  7   14   21   28   35   42   49   56   63   70   77   84⎟
⎜  8   16   24   32   40   48   56   64   72   80   88   96⎟
⎜  9   18   27   36   45   54   63   72   81   90   99  108⎟
⎜ 10   20   30   40   50   60   70   80   90  100  110  120⎟
⎜ 11   22   33   44   55   66   77   88   99  110  121  132⎟
⎝ 12   24   36   48   60   72   84   96  108  120  132  144⎠