MATRIX
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 2024 ▶ |
| Object type | Methodology or model |
- “A table of columns and rows employed for organizing a set of interrelated values.”
A matrix is basically a combinatory device. It can be used, for instance, to discover all the possible interconnections between various characteristics; or indicate all the possible transitions from one state or phase to others, indicating its various probabilities. It may also be constructed and operated as an encoding-decoding device.
J. WARFIELD and N.M. AYIKU proposed the use of a number of interconnected binary matrixes to understand complex flows of any kinds within a system. They emphasize the following types of matrixes:
Input matrix: to be used to define what inputs are required by each actor
Output matrix: to be used to find out what outputs are produced by each actor
Actor interaction matrix: to respond to the structural question: what actors supply inputs to what other actors
Input-Output matrix: responding to the structural question: What inputs are required to produce what outputs.
It may be useful to convert these matrixes into graphs, which may lead to an “interpretive structural model” (J. N. WARFIELD & N.M.B. AYIKU, 1989, p.29-35).
Matrixes are generally two-dimensional, but may have more dimensions. This however makes their practical use much more difficult.
See also
'J. WARFIELD for a very complete survey of the subject of matrixes use in systemics (p.220-63).'Markovian matrix