[Math] Mirror Matrix Multiplication

matrices

Usual matrix multiplication is done from left to right and top to bottom. Does there exist an application or a theory that does matrix multiplication from right to left and top to bottom?

EXAMPLE:

$\begin{bmatrix}0 \ 1 \\ 1 \ 0 \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix} 0 \ 1 \\ 1 \ 0 \end{bmatrix} « \begin{bmatrix} 0 \ 1 \\ 1 \ 0 \end{bmatrix}$

Where I have used the symbol « to denote that the multiplication must be done strictly from RIGHT to LEFT and TOP to BOTTOM.

To get the $a_{1,2} $ entry of the product we would do $ 1 \cdot 1 + 0 \cdot 0 = 1 $

In words,

(first row of matrix on the right of «)×(second column of matrix on the left of «) = (the entry in the first row , second column of the product)

The other entries of the product are computed in the same way. Has this been explored by anyone? Is there any published work?

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Best Answer

It doesn't seem like there's anything here that can't be done with every-day matrix multiplication. Seems like we can calculate $A«B$ as follows:

  1. flip $A$, call the flipped version $A_F$. Same for $B_F$
  2. Calculate $B_FA_F$
  3. Take the product, flip it back

As it ends up, "flipping" a matrix from right to left is itself a matrix operation. Namely, let $K_n$ be the $n\times n$ matrix given by

$$ K_n = \pmatrix{ 0&\cdots&0&1\\ \vdots&&1&0\\ 0&& &\vdots\\ 1&0&\cdots &0 } $$

Now, suppose $A$ is $k \times m$ and $B$ is $n \times k$. Then we can calculate $$ A«B= (B K_k)(AK_m)K_m = BK_kA $$ I have not heard of any application for this particular set of operations.

This analysis also reveals two different ways of finding $A«B$:

  • flip $B$ right to left to get $B_F$, and calculate $A«B = B_F A$
  • flip $A$ top to bottom to get $A_F$, and calculate $A«B = B A_F$