Question

What is a matrix in math?

Answer 1

Hint: Matrix is a set of numbers which are usually arranged in rows and columns. The Matrix is very important in mathematics as it has many applications. You also have many properties for matrices, you can check them using various methods.

Complete step by step solution:
According to the question, we have to explain what a matrix means in math.
 In mathematics, matrix is a set of numbers which are arranged in rows and columns in a form of array. The numbers which are present in the matrix are usually called as elements.
You can see that matrix has many applications in various fields like statistics, physics and many more. A matrix also has distributive law and the associative law. But it does not have any commutative law. In a matrix, usually the size of the matrix is represented by using m x n. Here m is the number of rows and n is the number of columns.
In a square matrix, the number of columns and the number of rows are the same, that is m=n. But in a rectangular matrix the number of rows and columns are not equal.
For example, The matrix is generally represented like this $ \left[ \begin{matrix}
   1 & 2 & 3 \\
   4 & 5 & 6 \\
   17 & 5 & 4 \\
\end{matrix} \right]$. This is a square matrix as the numbers of columns and rows are equal and equal to 3.

Note: Matrix is very important in maths. You have to know the difference between a matrix and a determinant. IN determinant, you have more properties than in a matrix. You also have different types of matrices like the identity matrix, upper triangular matrix, diagonal matrix and others.