# Matlab character matrices

• MATLAB

## Main Question or Discussion Point

Hi everyone,

I am wondering if I can input a matrix into Matlab that contains characters. I then would like to manipulate the matrix using row changing operations. Matlab, however, will not allow me to create a matrix with letters. Is there an equivalent to a matrix for character values that can have operations performed on them?

Thanks.

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Maybe I'm using cells incorrectly, but to test I am multiplying a 4x4 matrix / array with the 4x4 identity. It should return the original matrix / array. However, I get an error message that won't allow me to perform the operation.

"??? Undefined function or method 'mtimes' for input arguments of type 'cell'.

This is irritating. I wanted to use this as a check for my homework but I can't. Is there anyway around this error?

Thanks!

jhae2.718
Gold Member
Are you just trying to do symbolic math with matrices? You can use sym or the shortcut syms to create symbolic variables and then create a matrix using them. E.g. for something like
$$\begin{vmatrix} a & b \\ c & d \end{vmatrix} = ad - bc$$
you could do:
Code:
syms a b c d [color=#008000]real[/color];
det([a b; c d]);
I didn't realize you needed to do matrix arithmetic, so cells won't work.