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UALR Department of
History, April 2001. Web. 03 March 2015.
<http://www.ualr.edu/lasmoller/matrices.html>
Stakhov, A. P., and Scott Anthony. Olsen. The Mathematics of Harmony: From Euclid to
Contemporary Mathematics and Computer Science. Singapore: World Scientific, 2009.
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id=K6fac9RxXREC&printsec=frontcover&dq=mathematics+of+harmony&hl=en&sa=X&ei=av5VLGzGs3XoASH74LQBA&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=mathematics%20of
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Norton, Pam. Matrices. Camberwell, Victoria: ACER Press, 2007. Web.
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ParagraphThe history of matrices begins in ancient China, with the study of systems of linear
equations. Between 300 BC and 200 AD, the first known use of matrix methods to solve
simultaneous equations was indicated. In the book, The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art,
by Chiu Chang Suan Shu, the first known illustrations of matrices are present (Chang 267). The
book was created by several generations of Chinese mathematical scholars but started with Chiu
Chang. In Treatises seventh chapter, Too Much and Not Enough, the approach of a determinant
appears as well (Treatise).
After it originated in China, matrix concepts were spread to Europe and Japan, where
German contemporary Gottfried Leibniz and Seki Kowa were the first assumed users of
matrices, as many mathematical experts may have been using matrices as well. Leibniz
combined philosophy with matrices as well as modern logic. Kowa has been known as Japans
Newton, and used matrix formations to solve complex problems. Matrix-like arrays were found
in various historical mathematical books, including The Mathematics of Harmony: From Euclid
to Contemporary Mathematics and Computer Science (Stakhov 317). The Gaussian Elimination,
created by Carl Friedrich Gauss, is a system in which rectangular-like arrays are formed to solve
simultaneous equations. The term matrix was not applied into mathematics until the year 1850
by James Joseph Sylvester. A matrix can be any area where something is organized or arranged.
The rise in the use of the mathematical matrix systems can be credited to the female
mathematician Olga Taussky Todd, who began to use matrices to evaluate vibrations in airplanes
during World War II, and became one of the founders for matrix theory.

Since their first appearance in China, matrices have been recognized as an important tool
in mathematics. Matrices can not only be used for solving systems of simultaneous linear
equations, but also for portraying quantum atomic structure and designing computer game
graphics. Using matrices can also be involved in evaluating relationships, as well as an
organizational system. Matrices can be used in many more subjects in and outside of the
mathematical world (Norton, Smoller, Stakhov).