Definition
A matrix is a rectangular array of numbers or other mathematical objects, for which operations such as addition and multiplication are defined. Most commonly, a matrix over a field F is a rectangular array of scalars from F. Most of this article focuses on real and complex matrices, i.e., matrices whose elements are real numbers or complex numbers, respectively. More general types of entries are discussed below. For instance, this is a real matrix:
The numbers, symbols or expressions in the matrix are called its entries or its elements. The horizontal and vertical lines in a matrix are called rows and columns, respectively.
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