[Blindmath] matricies.

[Joseph C. Lininger]

Derek
Let me answer your first question first. Navigating matrices depends on 
how you want to do it. If you're talking on the computer, using a 
combination of the LaTeX representation and sometimes placing elements 
of the matrix in excel to work with them worked for me. Annoying 
sometimes, but doable. I also recommend you obtain a copy of the Octive 
(might be spelled Octave, I don't remember) software; it's an open 
source package that is very good at Matrix operations. It's similar to 
matlab in a lot of ways, or used to be anyway. You'll be wanting that 
after about the hundrith reduce operation. LOL Probably you can't use it 
on a test, but it helps to check your work and such for homework.

Now, to answer your representation questions. In LaTeX, you can write 
matrices as follows. Assume you're already in math mode, then you would 
do something like this. Please note that the B's are capitalized; you 
want them to be in order to have the braces typeset right.

\begin{Bmatrix}
1 & 2 & 3\\
4 & 5 & 6\\
7 & 8 & 9
\end{Bmatrix}

This creates a 3 by three matrix. The first row reads "1, 2, 3". It is 
obvious how the rest read. The Bmatrix tells LaTeX to surround the 
entire group with square braces, which is the standard.

In Nemeth, the syntax is as follows. dot four, then a left paren symbol. 
(the nemeth one, which is an "of" sign). Then write the first row of 
elements, each separated with a space. Then do a dot four, followed by a 
right paren. (The "with" sign) Do the same for subsequent rows.

Hope this helps
Joe