Application of Matrices and how it solves the real life problems

Saurabh Singh
Sep 3, 2018 · 2 min read

We all have been doing matrix calculations from our school times. In fact this question must be arrived in everyone’s mind that, “What is the use of it, am i going to need in real life or its just for increasing the difficulty of the math question paper?”.

Let’s get started with the introduction-

A matrix is a rectangular array of numbers or other mathematical objects for which operations such as addition and multiplication are defined. Matrices with single row are called row vectors, and those with single column are called column vectors.A matrix with same number of rows and columns is called a square matrix. A matrix with infinite number of rows or columns is called an infinite matrix. In some contexts, such as computer algebra programs, it is useful to consider a matrix with no rows or no columns,called an empty matrix.

Matrices are used much more in daily life than people would have thought. In fact it is in front of us every day when going to work, at the university and even at home.

Graphic software such as Adobe Photoshop on your personal computer uses matrices to process linear transformations to render images. A square matrix can represent a linear transformation of a geometric object.

For example, in the Cartesian X-Y plane, the matrix[0 -1;1 0] reflects an object in the vertical Y axis. In a video game, this would render the upside down mirror image of an assassin reflected in a pond of blood. If the video game has curved reflecting surfaces, such as a shiny metal shield, the matrix would be more complicated, to stretch or shrink the reflection.

Whereas in programming which is taught at the university, matrices and inverse matrices are used for coding and encrypting messages. A message is made as a sequence of numbers in a binary format for communication and it follows code theory for solving.

In robotic and automation, matrices are the basic component for the robot movements. The inputs for controlling robots are obtained based on the calculations from matrices and these are very accurate movements.

One main example is weather forecast. These charts and information that you see on the television are obtained using statistics that compare last weather conditions with current weather to predict future weather.

Matlab example-

To find the negative to any image, first load the image using imread function and store it in a variable(lets say ‘Img1')

The image will be stored in terms of a 3-dimensional array.

Now multiply that variable with any number and subtract it with original and then store the result in a new variable(‘ Img2=5*Img- Img’)

Now display the final image by using imshow function [imshow(Img2)].

The image will be negative of the original image.

** Try increasing the multiplication factor if not getting perfect results.