If I let A, B, and C be 2x2 matrices, is it possible for me to assign a label to each matrix element in matrix C where C = A*B?

Let A, B, and C be separate 2x2 matrices. In this case, we let matrix C = A*B.

[Matt J]

What is a "label"?

[Craig Egan Allistair Tan]

I'm talking about assigning a variable to each matrix element

[Sam Chak]

Can you give an example? Like...

A = [1 2; 3 4]

A =

1 2

3 4

B = [5 6; 7 8]

B =

5 6

7 8

C = A*B

C =

19 22

43 50

det(C)

ans = 4.0000

[Craig Egan Allistair Tan]

Something like in matrix C, we let C11 = 19, C12 = 22, C21 = 43, and C22 = 50.

Answer 1

[Matt J]

I'm talking about assigning a variable to each matrix element

One way,

A=rand(2);
B=rand(2);
C=A*B,

C = 2×2

0.2598 0.3906 0.5097 0.7454

tmp=num2cell(C);
[c1,c2,c3,c4]=deal(tmp{:})

c1 = 0.2598

c2 = 0.5097

c3 = 0.3906

c4 = 0.7454

[Walter Roberson]

Note that changing the c* variables will not change the matrix. The above code does not define the c* variables as being "references" to the array elements, only as copies of the array elements. There is no way to create references to individual elements of a numeric array.

Answer 2

[Matt J]

The attached class might be what you are looking for, if all you want to do are the operations C=A*B. To understand what it's doing, you need to get familiar with handle classes.

A=myclass(rand(2)), B=myclass(rand(2)),

A = 
    0.7690    0.7854
    0.5502    0.8403

B = 
    0.6974    0.3235
    0.7494    0.6334

C=A*B

C = 
    1.1248    0.7462
    1.0134    0.7102

c12=C(1,2)

c12 = 
    0.7462

C(1,2)=3

C = 
    1.1248    3.0000
    1.0134    0.7102

c12

c12 = 
     3

[Sam Chak]

👍 Thanks for the showing the class.