Easy question about matrices..?

Question

Yeah - well, is there any difference between the brackets and the line when you're doing matrices? For example,

Is there any difference between:

[1 2 3]
[4 5 6]

and

|1 2 3|
|4 5 6|

That's all I need.

Thanks in advance!

Oh - I meant to use a square matrix. Oops!

Answer 1

yes there is.

Strictly speaking, you only use brackets to indicate matrices and lines to indicate the determinant of the matrix.

In your example however, you have a 2 x 3 matrix. It is impossible to find the determinant by hand so I presume it is ok to use lines. But for a square matrix, it matters...

It will be best to stick with brackets for matrices and not lines unless you're asked to find determinants.

Answer 2

Nope.

You'll sometimes also see big parentheses ( ) used.