How to Make a Matrix in Google Docs
Written by Ivana - Reviewed by Tijana Google Workplace / Docs
Key Points
To create a matrix in Google Docs:
- Open Google Docs and click on 'Insert'.
- Select ‘Table’ and select the ‘5x1’ table option.
- Resize the table to be smaller, select it and right-click on it.
- Select 'Table properties’ > ‘Color’.
- Under the ‘Table border’ section, click on the drop-down menu and select ‘3pt’.
- In the second, third, and fourth cells, enter the numbers.
- Select the borders of the second, third, and fourth cells.
- Click on the ‘Border color’ drop-down menu in the toolbar and select the white color.
Google Docs is the most widely used text editing program thanks to the plethora of useful features it offers. However, Google Docs doesn’t have a built-in feature to build a matrix. But, making a matrix in Google Docs is still possible!
In this step-by-step guide below, we’re sharing the workaround solution for building matrices in Google Docs.
How to create a matrix in Google Docs
For the purpose of this guide, we’ll present how to make a 3x3 matrix in Google Docs. Follow the steps below.
To insert a 3x3 matrix in Google Docs:
- Open a Google Docs file.
- Place the cursor where you want to insert the matrix.
- Click on ‘Insert’ in the toolbar menu.
- Go to ‘Table’ and select the ‘5x1’ table option.
- A table with 1 row and 5 columns will appear on the screen.
- Now, select all cells and drag them to the left to decrease the cell width. The whole table will become smaller. (Just enough space for only a single number to be displayed in each cell).
- Next, select the whole table and right-click on it.
- Select ‘Table properties’ from the menu.
- Click on the ‘Color’ tab.
- Under the ‘Table border’ section, click on the drop-down menu and select ‘3pt’.
- In the second, third, and fourth cells, enter the numbers as displayed in the screenshot below. Note: If the cells are too small and you can’t see the numbers, resize the cells a bit to see the numbers clearly.
- Now, select the borders of the second, third, and fourth cells. You can select cells by dragging the cursor across them. Alternatively, press and hold the ‘CTRL’ or ‘Shift’ key and select all the borders around the second, third and fourth cell in the table by clicking on them.
- Click on the ‘Border color’ drop-down menu in the toolbar and select the white color.
- And that’s it! You’ve created the 3x3 matrix in Google Docs successfully.
✔️ You might also like to learn how to do Roman numerals in Google Docs.
What is a matrix?
If you are unfamiliar with the term matrix, it’s a mathematical expression with numbers arranged in a rectangular format. It’s a way to organize data and calculations.
Matrices arrange data into rows and columns or vice versa. Each cell in the matrix contains a value of one variable or another. The numbers of rows and columns in the matrix are known as the dimensions of the matrix.
If the number of elements in each row is the same as that in each column, the matrix is also known as a rectangular array.
The numbers in the matrix are also called elements or entries. The elements can be single numbers or sets of numbers.
In general, matrices are used in physics and engineering, and most notably in mathematics, to simplify complicated algebraic expressions.
Conclusion
Google Docs doesn’t have a built-in option for creating a matrix. However, in this article, we’ve shared a helpful workaround that you can use to create a matrix in Google Docs. You only need to insert a table and adjust the table properties and table border, as we’ve seen above.
If you liked this article, you may also want to read how to sort things alphabetically in Google Docs.
