Math::MatrixReal::Ext1 is an extension that adds the methods new_from_cols new_from_rows to Math::MatrixReal. The basic idea is to have a way of creating a matrix from array refs rather than just the current new_from_string methods (see the code examples below). I just called it Ext1 (Math::MatrixReal::Ext1) for "extension 1" because I couldn't think of a better name (I thought of a few--"NewNews", for example, but didn't think that everyone else would find that funny). This extension is available on my website at http://fulcrum.org/personal/msouth/code where you will also find an html version of the pod, some of which I have pasted in below. The new_from_* functions also take row and column vectors of type Math::MatrixReal and create matrices from them. At the time I wrote this (2001) Math::MatrixReal was abandoned, but someone has since adopted it. My recent (2005) updates will also hopefully go into Math::MatrixReal, but for now I'm putting them here because I just can't stand having this stuff out there uncorrected. Once the most recent changes are in the main line, I will deprecate this module and then it will completely disappear, probably some time in 2006. As I mention in the full documentation, if you are thinking of using this module, you might want to check out Math::Pari for a more powerful and extensive mathematics package. It installs with the standard make, make test, make install sequence. Here is a snippet of the pod: NAME Math::MatrixReal::Ext1 - Minor extensions to Math::MatrixReal SYNOPSIS use Math::MatrixReal::Ext1; $ident3x3 = Math::MatrixReal::Ext1->new_from_cols( [ [1,0,0],[0,1,0],[0,0,1] ] ); $upper_tri = Math::MatrixReal::Ext1->new_from_rows( [ [1,1,1],[0,1,1],[0,0,1] ] ); $col1 = Math::MatrixReal->new_from_string("[ 1 ]\n[ 3 ]\n[ 5 ]\n"); $col2 = Math::MatrixReal->new_from_string("[ 2 ]\n[ 4 ]\n[ 6 ]\n"); $mat = Math::MatrixReal::Ext1->new_from_cols( [ $col1, $col2 ] );