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 matrix operations discussed in this chapter. Go ahead and run the demo by double-clicking Mat_Calc.exe. Various vector and matrix sizes appear on the left side of the screen.

Start with a 3x3 times a 3x1. Click "3x3 matrix." Remember that the order in which you multiply the matrices is important. In this case, you must start with the 3x3 for the multiplication to be defined. Now plug in the following values, using the Tab key between entries:

When you click Enter, the matrix should appear at the top of the screen.

Click the operation you want to use ”in this case, Multiplication. Click the size of matrix you want to multiply by the first matrix. This time, select "3x1 vector." Notice that not all the choices are available. You can select only the ones that are defined for this particular matrix multiplication. Enter the following values, again using the Tab key between entries:

When you click Enter, the second matrix 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 matrix 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.