The utility of storing multiple values in one variable is not lost on me for programming:
poptart( 1, 10, 8, 42)
print( poptart [ 2 ] )
Result
10
Today I am learning how to build a matrix of m rows and n columns. Commonly referred to as a “table” when there is more than one row. In the past, I absolutely hated learning matrix multiplication in graduate school: when I was in high school back in the stone age, they didn’t teach matrices at the secondary level.
It’s not that I can’t multiply or manipulate matrices, which is a common refrain of students, i.e. “I hate this!” when they are unable to master a math concept. Instead, it felt like an ineligant insertion to a math curriculum that had held together for generations without it. I know, progress and all. And I know there are plenty of math problems involving quadratics that can be solved more easily using a matrix approach.
The discomfort, I think, came from the abstract nature of the way it was taught, and the way I was expected to teach it. Perhaps I needed to see a practical application of it to justify learning it. Today with coding, I will hopefully gain a greater appreciation for matrices’s utility.
Further reading
<><><>
<><><>
