Introduction
Throughout this presentation I have chosen to use a symbolic matrix notation. This choice
was not made lightly. I am a strong advocate of index notation, when appropriate. For
example, index notation greatly simplifies the presentation and manipulation of differential
geometry. As a rule-of-thumb, if your work is going to primarily involve differentiation
with respect to the spatial coordinates, then index notation is almost surely the appropriate
choice.
In the present case, however, I will be manipulating large systems of equations in which
the matrix calculus is relatively simply while the matrix algebra and matrix arithmetic is
messy and more involved. Thus, I have chosen to use symbolic notation.