Why does matrix arithmetic work?

Question

I know how to do matrix multiplication, cross, product, dot product, etc. But I don’t get why they work.

In: 2

Answer 1

Say you have a table like this:

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Number of tickets sold

Adults: 50 | Children: 85 | Seniors: 60 | Veterans: 45

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And another table like this:

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Price of tickets:

Adults: $10 | Children: $8 | Seniors: $6 | Veterans: $6

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And you need to find the total dollar amount of sales. It makes sense that you need to multiply each item in the first table by the respective items in the second table. Then add them all up.

That’s a matrix operation.

With larger matrices, you’re just doing more steps.