# Array vs. Matrix Operations

## Introduction

MathJSLab has two different types of arithmetic operations: array operations
and matrix operations. You can use these arithmetic operations to perform
numeric computations, for example, adding two numbers, raising the elements of
an array to a given power, or multiplying two matrices.

Matrix operations follow the rules of linear algebra. By contrast, array
operations execute element by element operations and support multidimensional
arrays. The period character (.) distinguishes the array operations from the
matrix operations. However, since the matrix and array operations are the same
for addition and subtraction, the character pairs .+ and .- are unnecessary.

## Array Operations

Array operations execute element by element operations on corresponding
elements of vectors, matrices, and multidimensional arrays. If the operands
have the same size, then each element in the first operand gets matched up with
the element in the same location in the second operand. If the operands have
compatible sizes, then each input is implicitly expanded as needed to match the
size of the other. For more information, see Compatible Array Sizes for Basic
Operations.

As a simple example, you can add two vectors with the same size.