# Matrix Multiplication, the human way!

Having to do copious calculations by hand when preparing for an exam, I came to realize that there was an alternative way of interpreting a matrix multiplication. This new insight would allow me to instantly guess the following product without ever doing any numerical multiplication:
$\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 2 & 3 \\ 4 & 5 & 6 \\ 7 & -8 & 0 \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0& 1 & 0 \\ 1& 0 & 0 \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix} 3 & 2 & 0 \\ 6 & 5 & 0 \\ 0 & -8 & 0 \end{bmatrix}$

Was there a way to have known that the first column of the product would be the third column of the first matrix?

MATRIX TIMES VECTOR

Observation: If $A$ has $n$ columns and $v$ is an $n$-vector, then

$Av=\begin{bmatrix} c & c & c & \cdots \\ o & o & o & \cdots \\ l & l & l & \cdots \\ u & u & u & \cdots \\ m & m & m & \cdots \\ n & n & n & \cdots \\ \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} a \\ b \\ c \\ \vdots \end{bmatrix} = a* \begin{bmatrix} 1^{st} \\ c \\ o \\ l \\ u \\ m \\ n \end{bmatrix} +b* \begin{bmatrix} 2^{nd} \\ c \\ o \\ l \\ u \\ m \\ n \end{bmatrix} +c* \begin{bmatrix} 3^{rd} \\ c \\ o \\ l \\ u \\ m \\ n \end{bmatrix}+ \cdots$

That is, the product is a linear combination of the columns with coefficients coming from the vector.

Examples:

1.

$\begin{bmatrix} 1 & -5 & 3 \\ 0 & 0.5 & 2\\ 1 & -8 & 0 \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} 2\\ -1 \\ 0 \end{bmatrix} = 2* \begin{bmatrix} 1st\\ col \end{bmatrix} + (-1)*\begin{bmatrix} 2nd\\ col \end{bmatrix} + 0 \\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ = 2 \begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 0 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix} -\begin{bmatrix} -5 \\ 0.5 \\ -8 \end{bmatrix}+0 = \begin{bmatrix} 7 \\ -0.5 \\ 10 \end{bmatrix}$

2. What vector to multiply a matrix $A$ into, so that we get the second column of $A$ as the product?

Answer: $\begin{bmatrix} 0 \\ 1 \\ 0 \\ \vdots \end{bmatrix}.$

It is not only the practical calculations that benefit from this new method. Some lemmas and theorems of linear algebra become more obvious and accessible. For example:

Ax=0 has a nontrivial solution iff the columns of A are linearly dependent (as vectors).

dimension of {Ax: x ranging over all column vectors} = number of independent columns of A

Given $A$ and $b$, $Av=b$ has a solution iff $b$ can be written as a linear combination of columns of $A$.

MATRIX TIMES MATRIX

In computing

$AB=\begin{bmatrix} c & c & c & \cdots \\ o & o & o & \cdots \\ l & l & l & \cdots \\ u & u & u & \cdots \\ m & m & m & \cdots \\ n & n & n & \cdots \\ \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} c & c & c & \cdots \\ o & o & o & \cdots \\ l & l & l & \cdots \\ u & u & u & \cdots \\ m & m & m & \cdots \\ n & n & n & \cdots \\ \end{bmatrix} , \$

To get the  j’th column of the product, ignore all other columns of B except the  j’th, and then do A*[column j of B], using the above method. Do this for all columns and you will have the product $AB$.

Examples:

1.

$\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 2 & 3 \\ 4 & 5 & -2 \\ 7 & -4 & 0 \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 & 1 \\ 0& 1 & 1 \\ 2& 3 & 0 \end{bmatrix}$

The first column will be

$\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 2 & 3 \\ 4 & 5 & -2 \\ 7 & -4 & 0 \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 0 \\ 2 \end{bmatrix} = 1*\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 4 \\ 7 \end{bmatrix} + 2* \begin{bmatrix} 3 \\ -2 \\ 0 \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix} 7\\ 0 \\ 7 \end{bmatrix}$

The second column will be

$\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 2 & 3 \\ 4 & 5 & -2 \\ 7 & -4 & 0 \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} 0 \\ 1 \\ 3 \end{bmatrix} = 1*\begin{bmatrix} 2 \\ 5 \\ -4 \end{bmatrix} + 3* \begin{bmatrix} 3 \\ -2 \\ 0 \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix} 11 \\ -1 \\ -4 \end{bmatrix}$

Column 3 is computed similarly, and the full result is:

$\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 2 & 3 \\ 4 & 5 & -2 \\ 7 & -4 & 0 \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 & 1 \\ 0& 1 & 1 \\ 2& 3 & 0 \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix} 7 & 11 & 3 \\ 0 & -1 & 9 \\ 7 & -4 & 3 \end{bmatrix}$

Note: Most of the calculations above are doable in mind, and I have written them out to explain the procedure only.

2. Multiply  $A= \begin{bmatrix} 2 & 33 & 0 \\ 0 & -1 & 9 \\ 4 & -14 & 13 \end{bmatrix}$  into a matrix $B$ so that the columns 2 and 3 of A are interchanged.

Answer:  $B=\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \end{bmatrix}$

3. Find the 3rd column of the product

$\begin{bmatrix} 10 & 2 & 3 \\ 4 & 0 & -2 \\ 7 & -4 & 0 \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 & 1 \\ 0& 1 & 1 \\ -2& 0 & -1 \end{bmatrix}$

thrid column of AB = A * third column of B. So

$\begin{bmatrix} 10 & 2 & 3 \\ 4 & 0 & -2 \\ 7 & -4 & 0 \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 1 \\ -1 \end{bmatrix}= \begin{bmatrix} 9 \\ 6 \\ 3 \end{bmatrix}$

4. Is the following true or false? “If we change arrays in the second column of B, then in the product AB only the arrays in the second column may change — all other arrays on other columns will remain the same.”

Whether you are convinced that computing AB one column at a time is more practical than the conventional array-by-array multiplication or not, one cannot ignore its usefulness in helping one to “see” the linear algebra behind matrices and their multiplication. So, next time you encounter a sparse matrix save yourself tens of multiplications by zero!

HOMEWORK

Can you guess and prove a row-wise version of the above?

## About Behnam Esmayli

I started PhD in Mathematics at Pitt in Fall 2015. I have come to grow a passion for metric spaces -- a set and a distance function that satisfies the triangle inequality -- simple and beautiful! These spaces when equipped with other structures, such as a measure, becomes extremely fun to play with!
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