Mat for Beginners

Mat (M) is short for matrix. A matrix is another word for an array. An array of variables in this case. An array is a series of variables.

Examples

Mat A would refer to the whole array of A(1) to A(10) (if 10 is the highest item in the array)

each item in the array can contain a different value. for example

A(1)=10
A(2)=30
A(3)=25
A(4)=40

A mat statement is refer to the whole array, for example:

PRINT MAT A

returns the following:

10
30
25
40

A mat statement can also be used to change how large the array is, for example:

MAT A(5)

changes the array to have 5 items in it. Then, after executing MAT A(5) and typing:

PRINT MAT A

you would get

10
30
25
40
0

The 5th item was never set to anything, so A(5) returns a 0.

A mat statement can also refer to a range within an array, for example

PRINT MAT A(2:4)

would return

30
25
40

Arrays can be sorted, which changes the order of the items contained within the arrays. For example, to sort an array of string constants:

AIDX(Mat A$)

Arrays can also have more than one dimension.

X(1,1)=5
X(1,2)=10
X(2,1)=15
X(2,2)=20

These are easiest to picture like a spread sheet with the two numbers identifying which cell a value is contained in (or like X and Y on a graph). Arrays can have up to 9 dimensions.

See Also

• Srch
• Mat