[ARCHIVED] Variable in a Matrix

[linda_m_schaus]

I want to have a variable in a matrix question so that I can use a formula question.  I want each student to see a different matrix.  When I place [x] into the matrix, students do not see the randomly chosen value, only [x].  Is it possible to have a variable in a matrix?

[James · Accepted solution]

 @linda_m_schaus  

With New Quizzes, yes. With Classic Quizzes, no.

In New Quizzes, you can do something like this with a formula question.

Find the determinant.

$\left|\begin{array}{cc}‘a‘& ‘b‘\\ ‘c‘& ‘d‘\end{array}\right|$

It ends up looking like

Of course, it depends on your settings for a, b, c, and d.

There are other environments for matrices. pmatrix uses  ( ), bmatrix uses  [ ], vmatrix uses | |

They all center align the numbers, though, so I normally do something like this when I am going to have numbers of different number of digits or where are some are negative. You would still need to wrap it in $and$

\left | $$\begin{array}{rr}‘a‘& ‘b‘\\ ‘c‘& ‘d‘\end{array}$$ \right |