Matrix multiplication (also called dot or inner product) is carried out in Mathematica with the function Dot, typically entered with a dot short-hand syntax.

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This demonstrates matrix multiplication of a matrix with itself.

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This multiplies a matrix with a vector.

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The matrix product can be computed with two matrices of different sizes so long as they are compatible. For matrices this means that to multiply a matrix by a matrix, it is required that is equal to . Here, a 23 matrix is multiplied by a 32 matrix.

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This will result in a 2x2 matrix.

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This generates a 3x3 matrix.

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If the dimensions do not match, an error is generated.

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Dot can be used to multiply vectors of equal length; the result will be a scalar.

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Multiplication of a matrix by a vector works equivalently. This multiples a 23 matrix by a length 3 vector.

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This multiples the length 3 vector by a 32 matrix.

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The definition of matrix multiplication is such that the product of two matrices and , where , is given as below.

The definition generalizes, so that the product of two arbitrary rank tensors and is as follows.

Thus applying Dot to a rank tensor and a rank tensor results in a rank tensor. An example is shown below. First, a 234 tensor is defined.

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Now, a 421 tensor is defined.

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This multiplies tensor1 by tensor2. They are compatible because the length of the innermost index of tensor1 equals the length of the outermost index of tensor2.

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The result is a 2321 tensor.

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The outer product is a way to build a higher rank tensor from those of lower rank. Mathematica provides this functionality with the function Outer. One use of this is to combine two vectors to form a matrix as an outer product.

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The function that is used to combine corresponding elements is given as the first argument. It can be an unknown function as in the following example.

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One way to visualize the operation of Outer is demonstrated in this example. First, a list of points is created.

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This shows how Outer joins each point to each other point.

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More information on Outer is available in The Mathematica Book.

Matrix multiplication is a fundamental operation of linear algebra computation. Consequently, Mathematica provides Dot as a dedicated function, which is heavily optimized. However, a generalization of matrix multiplication is provided by Inner. This allows the two operations that are used to form the product to be specified.

Here are two vectors.

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This is the scalar product.

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This is the equivalent operation using Inner.

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Now Power is used instead of Times.

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