Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2008
In the following pages I have developed the theory of matrices by resolving them into parallel components arranged diagonally, rather than into the usual rows and columns. This treatment is natural in view of the fundamental fact that the resolution is undestroyed when matrices are formed into products (Theorem 2). It is closely related to the theory of continuants and of continued fractions. Certain features stand out in such a presentation—the distinction between the length and range of a diagonal (§ 4), that between regular and irregular diagonals (§ 6), and the use of equable partition (§ 7). The exact conditions for the existence of an rth root of a given singular matrix are examined in § 9 and summarized under the title, the condition of equability.