16.4.1 Matrix Expressions

Many matrix commands use expressions. A matrix expression may use the following operators, listed in descending order of operator precedence. Within a single level, operators associate from left to right.

• Function call () and matrix construction {}
• Indexing ()
• Unary + and -
• Integer sequence :
• Exponentiation ** and &**
• Multiplication * and &*, and division / and &/
• Addition + and subtraction -
• Relational < <= = >= > <>
• Logical NOT
• Logical AND
• Logical OR and XOR

See Matrix Functions, for the available matrix functions. The remaining operators are described in more detail below.

Expressions appear in the matrix language in some contexts where there would be ambiguity whether ‘/’ is an operator or a separator between subcommands. In these contexts, only the operators with higher precedence than ‘/’ are allowed outside parentheses. Later sections call these restricted expressions.

• Matrix Construction Operator {}
• Integer Sequence Operator ‘ : ’
• Index Operator ()
• Unary Operators
• Elementwise Binary Operators
• Matrix Multiplication Operator ‘ * ’
• Matrix Exponentiation Operator **