# Documentation

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# mtimes, *

Matrix Multiplication

## Syntax

• C = A*B
example
• C = mtimes(A,B)

## Description

example

C = A*B is the matrix product of A and B. If A is an m-by-p and B is a p-by-n matrix, then C is an m-by-n matrix defined by $C\left(i,j\right)=\sum _{k=1}^{p}A\left(i,k\right)B\left(k,j\right).$This definition says that C(i,j) is the inner product of the ith row of A with the jth column of B. You can write this definition using the MATLAB® colon operator as C(i,j) = A(i,:)*B(:,j)For nonscalar A and B, the number of columns of A must equal the number of rows of B. Matrix multiplication is not universally commutative for nonscalar inputs. That is, A*B is typically not equal to B*A. If at least one input is scalar, then A*B is equivalent to A.*B and is commutative.
C = mtimes(A,B) is an alternative way to execute A*B, but is rarely used. It enables operator overloading for classes.

## Examples

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Create a 1-by-4 row vector, A, and a 4-by-1 column vector, B.

A = [1 1 0 0]; B = [1; 2; 3; 4]; 

Multiply A times B.

C = A*B 
C = 3 

The result is a 1-by-1 scalar, also called the dot product or inner product of the vectors A and B. Alternatively, you can calculate the dot product with the syntax dot(A,B).

Multiply B times A.

C = B*A 
C = 1 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 3 3 0 0 4 4 0 0 

The result is a 4-by-4 matrix, also called the outer product of the vectors A and B. The outer product of two vectors, , returns a matrix.

Create two arrays, A and B.

A = [1 3 5; 2 4 7]; B = [-5 8 11; 3 9 21; 4 0 8]; 

Calculate the product of A and B.

C = A*B 
C = 24 35 114 30 52 162 

Calculate the inner product of the second row of A and the third column of B.

A(2,:)*B(:,3) 
ans = 162 

This answer is the same as C(2,3).

## Input Arguments

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Left Array, specified as a scalar, vector, or matrix. For nonscalar inputs, the number of columns in A must be equal to the number of rows in B.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | logical | char | duration | calendarDuration
Complex Number Support: Yes

Right Array, specified as a scalar, vector, or matrix. For nonscalar inputs, the number of columns in A must be equal to the number of rows in B.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | logical | char | duration | calendarDuration
Complex Number Support: Yes

## Output Arguments

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Product Array, returned as a scalar, vector, or matrix. Array C has the same number of rows as input A and the same number of columns as input B. For example, if A is an m-by-0 empty matrix and B is a 0-by-n empty matrix, then A*B is an m-by-n matrix of zeros.

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### Tall Array Support

This function fully supports tall arrays. For more information, see Tall Arrays.