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# [LaTeX] Matrices

category: Writing | course: LaTeX Math | difficulty:

There are other ways to create matrices, using the proper delimiters, but using a special type of matrix environment will always be the best way to do it. These environments all roughly do the same – create a matrix – but have subtle differences that might make your life easier. They all follow this general syntax:

\begin{matrixType} row 1, number 1 & … & row 1, number n \\ … row m, number 1 & … & row m, number n \end{matrixType}

As you can see, each row is terminated by a newline (two backslashes), and each column by an ampersand.

## Plain Matrix

The matrix environment creates a matrix with everything lined up correctly, but nothing around it to signal it’s a matrix. This is useful, for instance, for creating a submatrix within a matrix.

$\begin{matrix} 0 & 1 & 2\\ 3 & 4 & 5\\ 6 & 7 & 8 \end{matrix}$


## Surrounded Matrices

One of the following environments can be used if you want a certain kind of delimiter surrounding your matrix:

 Environment Description bmatrix Brackets around the matrix (usual notation) Bmatrix Braces around the matrix pmatrix Parentheses around the matrix vmatrix Vertical bars around the matrix (used to represent the determinant) Vmatrix Double vertical-bars around the matrix
$\begin{bmatrix} 0 & 1 & 2\\ 3 & 4 & 5\\ 6 & 7 & 8 \end{bmatrix}$


## Inline Matrices

To use a matrix inline, so that the flow of text is not disrupted, use the smallmatrix environment. This, however, only creates a smaller plain matrix, which means you need to add delimiters yourself, and the matrix can’t be too large to begin with.

This matrix, $\begin{smallmatrix} a & 0\\0 & b \end{smallmatrix}$, is inline.

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