matrix (redirected from mechanical matrix)

matrix, in mathematics, a rectangular array of elements (e.g., numbers) considered as a single entity. A matrix is distinguished by the number of rows and columns it contains. The matrix is a 2×3 (read "2 by 3") matrix, because it contains 2 rows and 3 columns. A matrix having the same number of rows as columns is called a square matrix. The matrix is a 2×2 matrix, or square matrix of order 2; a square matrix of order n contains n rows and n columns. Definitions are made for certain operations with matrices; for example, a matrix may be multiplied by a number, and two matrices of the same order may be added or multiplied using an algebra of matrices that has been developed. Matrices find application in such fields as vector analysis and the solution of systems of linear equations by means of electronic computers.

Bibliography

See R. C. Dorfi, Matrix Algebra (1969).

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matrix

Set of numbers arranged in rows and columns to form a rectangular array. Matrix elements may also be differential operators, vectors, or functions. Matrices have wide applications in engineering, physics, economics, and statistics, as well as in various branches of mathematics. They are usually first encountered in the study of systems of equations represented by matrix equations of the form Ax = B, which may be solved by finding the inverse of matrix A or by using an algebraic method based on its determinant.

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matrix

An array of elements in row and column form. See x-y matrix.

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matrix

1. Anatomy the thick tissue at the base of a nail from which a fingernail or toenail develops

2. the intercellular substance of bone, cartilage, connective tissue, etc.

3. 

a. the rock material in which fossils, pebbles, etc., are embedded

b. the material in which a mineral is embedded; gangue

4. (formerly) a mould used in the production of gramophone records. It is obtained by electrodeposition onto the master

5. a bed of perforated material placed beneath a workpiece in a press or stamping machine against which the punch operates

6. Metallurgy

a. the shaped cathode used in electroforming

b. the metal constituting the major part of an alloy

c. the soft metal in a plain bearing in which the hard particles of surface metal are embedded

7. the main component of a composite material, such as the plastic in a fibre-reinforced plastic

8. Maths a rectangular array of elements set out in rows and columns, used to facilitate the solution of problems, such as the transformation of coordinates. Usually indicated by parentheses: (

abc

def

)

9. Computing a rectangular array of circuit elements usually used to generate one set of signals from another

10. Obsolete the womb

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matrix [′mā·triks]

(analytical chemistry)

The analyte as considered in terms of its being an assemblage of constituents, each with its own properties.

(computer science)

A latticework of input and output leads with logic elements connected at some of their intersections.

(electronics)

The section of a color television transmitter that transforms the red, green, and blue camera signals into color-difference signals and combines them with the chrominance subcarrier. Also known as color coder; color encoder; encoder.

The section of a color television receiver that transforms the color-difference signals into the red, green, and blue signals needed to drive the color picture tube. Also known as color decoder; decoder.

(engineering)

A recessed mold in which something is formed or cast.

(graphic arts)

In a type-casting machine, the portion of the mold that forms the letter face.

A heavy, unsized, unfinished paper that is used for molds for stereotype plates.

A master negative from which characters are projected in a photocomposition process.

(histology)

The intercellular substance of a tissue. Also known as ground substance.

The epithelial tissue from which a toenail or fingernail develops.

(materials)

A binding agent used to make an agglomerate mass.

(mathematics)

A rectangular array of numbers or scalars from a vector space.

(metallurgy)

The principal component of an alloy.

The precisely shaped form used as the cathode in electroforming.

(mycology)

The substrate on or in which fungus grows.

(petrology)

The continuous, fine-grained material in which large grains of a sediment or sedimentary rock are embedded. Also known as groundmass.

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Matrix - [FidoNet] 1. What the Opus BBS software and sysops call FidoNet. 2. Fanciful term for a cyberspace expected to emerge from current networking experiments (see network, the). 3. The totality of present-day computer networks.