C Program to Subtract of Two Matrices

• Write a C program for subtraction of two matrix.

A matrix is a two-dimentional array of elements. The size of a matrix is defined as the number of rows and columns of that matrix. The horizontal and vertical lines of elements in a matrix are called rows and columns of a matrix. The element in the i-th row and j-th column of a matrix A is referred as (i,j), or A[i,j].

Subtracting two same-size matrices is very similar to adding matrices with the only difference being subtracting corresponding entries.

• Matrix subtraction is defined for two matrices of the same dimensions, If the size of matrices are not same, then the difference of these two matrices is said to be undefined.
• The subtraction of two M × N matrices A and B, denoted by A – B, is again an M × N matrix computed by subtracting corresponding elements.

Algorithm to subtract of two matrices
Let A and B are two matrices of dimension M X N and D is the difference matrix(D = A – B). Below mentioned steps explains how we can find difference of two matrices.

• To subtract two matrices we have to subtract their corresponding elements. For example, D[i][j] = A[i][j] – B[i][j].
• Traverse both matrices row wise(first all elements of a row, then jump to next row) using two loops(check line number 29 and 30 of below program).
• For every element A[i][j], subtract it with corresponding element B[i][j] and store the result in Difference matrix at D[i][j].

C Program for subtraction two matrix

/*
* C Program to subtract two matrices
*/
#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
 
int main(){
    int rows, cols, rowCounter, colCounter;
    int firstMatrix[50][50], secondMatrix[50][50], differenceMatrix[50][50];
    printf("Enter Rows and Columns of Matrix\n");
    scanf("%d %d", &rows, &cols);
     
    printf("Enter first Matrix of size %dX%d\n", rows, cols);
    /*  Input first matrix*/
    for(rowCounter = 0; rowCounter < rows; rowCounter++){
        for(colCounter = 0; colCounter < cols; colCounter++){
            scanf("%d", &firstMatrix[rowCounter][colCounter]);
        }
    }
    /*  Input second matrix*/
    printf("Enter second Matrix of size %dX%d\n", rows, cols);
    for(rowCounter = 0; rowCounter < rows; rowCounter++){
        for(colCounter = 0; colCounter < cols; colCounter++){
            scanf("%d", &secondMatrix[rowCounter][colCounter]);
        }
    }
    /* Subtract corresponding elements of both matrices 
       differenceMatrix[i][j] = firstmatrix[i][j] + secondMatrix[i][j] */
    for(rowCounter = 0; rowCounter < rows; rowCounter++){
        for(colCounter = 0; colCounter < cols; colCounter++){
            differenceMatrix[rowCounter][colCounter] = firstMatrix[rowCounter][colCounter]
                - secondMatrix[rowCounter][colCounter];
        }
    }
    /* Print difference matrix*/
    printf("Difference Matrix\n");
    for(rowCounter = 0; rowCounter < rows; rowCounter++){
        for(colCounter = 0; colCounter < cols; colCounter++){
            printf("%d ", differenceMatrix[rowCounter][colCounter]);
        }
        printf("\n");
    }
    getch();
    return 0;
}

Program Output

Enter Rows and Columns of Matrix
2 2
Enter first Matrix of size 2X2
0 2
1 3
Enter second Matrix of size 2X2
3 2
1 0
Difference Matrix
-3 0
0 3

Enter Rows and Columns of Matrix
3 2
Enter first Matrix of size 3X2
2 1
0 1
7 2
Enter second Matrix of size 3X2
0 0
-2 1
2 -3
Difference Matrix
2 1
2 0
5 5