Visualization Experience

On the CD-ROM you will find a demo named Matrix Vortex. Here's a brief description from the programmer, Kaveh Kahrizi:

The Matrix Vortex is designed to make you familiar with the various matrix and vector operations in a visually stimulating setting. All the math code resides in the MatCalc class, which is in MatCalc.cpp and MatCalc.h . The minimum system requirements for the program are a 700MHz processor, a graphics card with 8MB of memory, and 64MB of RAM. The interface is fairly intuitive and can be navigated with the left mouse button. You enter input using the keyboard; the Backspace key corrects mistakes. When you enter a matrix or vector, Tab and Shift-Tab may be used to move through the squares. Esc quits the program.

The Matrix Vortex performs all the vector operations discussed in this chapter. Run the demo by double-clicking Mat_Calc.exe. Various vector and matrix sizes appear on the left side of the screen. Ignore the matrix selections for now. You'll use them in the next chapter.

Start with 3D vector addition. Click "3 x 1 vector." Plug in the values 12, 3, and “5, using the Tab key between entries. When you click Enter, the vector should appear at the top of the screen. Click the operation you want to use ”in this case, Addition. Click the size vector you want to add to the first vector. Notice that only the 3 x 1 choice is available. That's because you can only add vectors that are the same size . Click "3 x 1 vector" and enter the values “2, 0, and 4 for the vector, again using the Tab key between entries. When you click Enter, the second vector should appear at the top of the screen. Check to see that the values you entered are correct, and then click Solve. The vector should appear at the bottom of the screen. When you're ready to try another vector operation, click Clear to start over.

Try going back through all the self-assessment questions and using the Matrix Vortex to check your answers. You might want to make up a few problems of your own. Do them by hand first and then use the Matrix Vortex to check yourself.