How to Add a Matrix to a Matrix in MATLAB

MATLAB, a technical computing program, is optimized for operations on matrices.

Operations on multidimensional data such as matrices add a level of complexity, such as how different matrices are combined with each other. However, MATLAB -- optimized for efficient operations on data formatted as a matrix -- provides simple syntax for operations on matrices, such as addition and concatenation.

Instructions

1. Create two matrices, as in this example filled with random data.

   A = rand(50,50);
   B = rand(50,50);

2. Add the elements of the two matrices together using the "+" operator.

   new_50by50_matrix = A+B;

3. Concatenate matrices by placing them together between brackets. A space or comma between matrix variable concatenates row-wise. A semicolon concatenates column-wise.

   new_50by100_matrix = [A B];
   new_50by100_matrix = [A, B];
   new_100by50_matrix = [A; B];

4. Concatenate higher dimensional arrays along a certain dimension using the cat() function.

   new_matrix = cat(dimension, a_matrix, another_matrix);

References

• MATLAB Documentation: Matrix Indexing
• MATLAB Documentation: Matrix and Array Arithmetic
• MATLAB Documentation: cat