Matrix addition

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In mathematics, matrix addition is the operation of adding two matrices by adding the corresponding entries together. However, there is another operation which could also be considered as a kind of addition for matrices.

1 Entrywise sum
2 Direct sum
3 See also
4 External links

[ Entrywise sum

The usual matrix addition is defined for two matrices of the same dimensions. The sum of two m-by-n matrices A and B, denoted by A + B, is again an m-by-n matrix computed by adding corresponding elements. For example:

$\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 3 \\ 1 & 0 \\ 1 & 2 \end{bmatrix} + \begin{bmatrix} 0 & 0 \\ 7 & 5 \\ 2 & 1 \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix} 1+0 & 3+0 \\ 1+7 & 0+5 \\ 1+2 & 2+1 \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 3 \\ 8 & 5 \\ 3 & 3 \end{bmatrix}$

We can also subtract one matrix from another, as long as they have the same dimensions. A - B is computed by subtracting corresponding elements of A and B, and has the same dimensions as A and B. For example:

$\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 3 \\ 1 & 0 \\ 1 & 2 \end{bmatrix} - \begin{bmatrix} 0 & 0 \\ 7 & 5 \\ 2 & 1 \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix} 1-0 & 3-0 \\ 1-7 & 0-5 \\ 1-2 & 2-1 \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 3 \\ -6 & -5 \\ -1 & 1 \end{bmatrix}$

[ Direct sum

Another operation, which is used less often, is the direct sum. The direct sum of any pair of matrices A of size m × n and B of size p × q is a matrix of size (m + p) × (n + q) matrix defined as

$A \oplus B = \begin{bmatrix} A & 0 \\ 0 & B \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix} a_{11} & \cdots & a_{1n} & 0 & \cdots & 0 \\ \vdots & \cdots & \vdots & \vdots & \cdots & \vdots \\ a_{m 1} & \cdots & a_{mn} & 0 & \cdots & 0 \\ 0 & \cdots & 0 & b_{11} & \cdots & b_{1q} \\ \vdots & \cdots & \vdots & \vdots & \cdots & \vdots \\ 0 & \cdots & 0 & b_{p1} & \cdots & b_{pq} \end{bmatrix}$

For instance,

$\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 3 & 2 \\ 2 & 3 & 1 \end{bmatrix} \oplus \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 6 \\ 0 & 1 \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 3 & 2 & 0 & 0 \\ 2 & 3 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 6 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \end{bmatrix}$

The direct sum of matrices is a special type of block matrix, in particular the direct sum of square matrices is a block diagonal matrix.

Uses of this include

The direct sum of two square matrices can represent the adjacency matrix of a graph or multigraph with one component for each direct addend.
Any element in the direct sum of two vector spaces of matrices can be represented as a direct sum of two matrices.

In general, thee direct sum of n matrices is:

$\bigoplus_{i=1}^{n} A_{i} = \mbox{diag}( A_1, A_2, A_3, \ldots, A_n)= \begin{bmatrix} \begin{matrix} A_1 & \\ & A_2 \end{matrix} & 0 \\ 0 & \begin{matrix} \ddots & \\ & A_n \end{matrix} \end{bmatrix}.$