The subjects of linear algebra and differential equations involve manipulating vector equations. In this chapter we introduce our notation for vectors and matrices — and we introduce MATLAB, a computer program that is designed to perform vector manipulations in a natural way.

We begin, in Section ??, by defining vectors and matrices, and by explaining how to add and scalar multiply vectors and matrices. In Section ?? we explain how to enter vectors and matrices into MATLAB, and how to perform the operations of addition and scalar multiplication in MATLAB. There are many special types of matrices; these types are introduced in Section ??. In the concluding section, we introduce the geometric interpretations of vector addition and scalar multiplication; in addition we discuss the angle between vectors through the use of the dot product of two vectors.