A vector is a list of nonlist elements:

Many operations work on vectors, like Dot and Norm:

A matrix is a list of vectors of equal length:

Many operations work with matrices, like Dot, Transpose, and Det:

A rectangular array is represented by nested lists with consistent dimensions:

Many operations work on arrays of any depth, like Dot and Fourier:

The three-dimensional discrete Fourier transform:

Ragged arrays that are not rectangular can also be used:

Many structural functions will work with ragged arrays:

If the elements are at the same depth, you can use PadRight to make a rectangular array:

Range constructs a list consisting of a range of values:

Array constructs lists using a function:

When given multiple dimensions, matrices or deeper arrays are constructed:

Table constructs lists using an expression and an iterator:

When given multiple iterators, matrices and arrays can be constructed:

Functional commands like NestList create lists of the results:

To construct a list when the length is not known ahead of time, Sow and Reap are efficient:

Some trials of rolling a die until the same number comes up twice in a row:

Add two vectors:

Scalar multiple:

Sine of a vector:

Scalar multiple of a matrix:

Matrix plus a vector adds the component of the vector to the rows of the matrix:

Function applied element-wise to a matrix:

Any function that has the Listable attribute will thread over lists element-wise:

Use Threaded to alter how listable functions combine arguments:

Apply makes the elements of a list the arguments of a function:

If you have a nested list, applying at level 1 gives a list f applied to the sublists:

Map applies a function to the elements of a list:

For a nested list, Map can apply f at any level or multiple levels:

Do, Product, Sum, and Table can iterate over a list:

Part can be used to get elements of lists:

You can get multiple parts by specifying a list of parts:

Or by using Span:

Use Outer to apply a function to elements of multiple lists:

Use Join to combine two lists end to end:

Use Splice to insert elements of one list as individual elements of another list:

A combination of Sequence and Apply can be used for the same effect:

Unlike Sequence, Splice[list] is inert inside other functions:

Use Insert to place a whole list as a single element inside another list:

Append behaves similarly:

As does Prepend:

Use Flatten to remove inner lists:

Complement, Union, and Intersection treat List as a set:

Construct various combinatorial structures using Subsets, Tuples, and IntegerPartitions:

Many commands use {var, vmin, vmax} as a specification of variable range:

Many commands use {v₁,v₂,…} for a collection of variables:

A list of rules is returned as a solution by many solving commands:

You can use the values of the results with ReplaceAll:

When multiple solutions are possible, the result is a list of rule lists:

When a list of rule lists is used in ReplaceAll, you get a list of results:

Even if there is only one solution, the extra List is used for consistent structure:

Lists are very good for holding data since the elements can be anything:

Sine of successive squares:

Plot the data:

Data from a function sampled at points in two dimensions:

A piecewise polynomial that interpolates the data:

Plot the InterpolatingFunction:

Plot the data directly: