# Symbolic matrix calculation [closed]

I have question about a matrix calculation like $\mathbf{b}^{t}\,\Sigma\,\mathbf{b}$, where $\Sigma$ is a 7 by 7 matrix, and $\mathbf{b}$ is vector of 7 elements, and each element in the vector $\mathbf{b}$ or $\Sigma$ is a symbolic formula,

For example, the (i, j)-th element of $\Sigma$ could have the form $\Sigma_{i,j}=ab+c+u+m$.

How can I do this calculation in Mathematica?

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## closed as off-topic by MarcoB, Yves Klett, Sjoerd C. de Vries, Mr.Wizard♦Jun 25 at 6:31

This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:

• "This question arises due to a simple mistake such as a trivial syntax error, incorrect capitalization, spelling mistake, or other typographical error and is unlikely to help any future visitors, or else it is easily found in the documentation." – MarcoB, Sjoerd C. de Vries, Mr.Wizard
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You may need to use the "list" data structure in mathematica. Say, $\Sigma$ is a two by two matrix. In Mathematica, you just input

Sigma = {{x+y, m+n}, {x+y-w, m-n.l}}


Similarly

b={u,v}


Then, $b\Sigma b^T$ is just

b.Sigma.Transpose[b,{1}]


Hope it works for you.

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