This article lists some important classes of matrices used in mathematics, science and engineering. A matrix (plural matrices, or less commonly matrixes) is a rectangular array of numbers called entries. Matrices have a long history of both study and application, leading to diverse ways of classifying matrices. A first group is matrices satisfying concrete conditions of the entries, including constant matrices. Important examples include the identity matrix given by
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{\displaystyle I_{n}={\begin{bmatrix}1&0&\cdots &0\\0&1&\cdots &0\\\vdots &\vdots &\ddots &\vdots \\0&0&\cdots &1\end{bmatrix}}.}
and the zero matrix of dimension
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{\displaystyle m\times n}
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{\displaystyle O_{2\times 3}={\begin{pmatrix}0&0&0\\0&0&0\end{pmatrix}}}
.Further ways of classifying matrices are according to their eigenvalues, or by imposing conditions on the product of the matrix with other matrices. Finally, many domains, both in mathematics and other sciences including physics and chemistry, have particular matrices that are applied chiefly in these areas.