\begin{definition}[Definition:Matrix Direct Sum]
Let $\mathbf A = \sqbrk a_{m n}$ and $\mathbf B = \sqbrk b_{p q}$ be matrices.
The '''matrix direct sum''' of $\mathbf A$ and $\mathbf B$ is denoted $\mathbf A \oplus \mathbf B$ and is defined as:
:$\mathbf A \oplus \mathbf B := \begin {bmatrix} \mathbf A & \mathbf 0 \\ \mathbf 0 & \mathbf B \end {bmatrix}$
where $\mathbf 0$ is a zero matrix, the upper-right $\mathbf 0$ being $m \times q$ and the lower left $\mathbf 0$ being $n \times p$.
Thus, if:
:$\mathbf A$ is a matrix with order $m \times n$
:$\mathbf B$ is a matrix with order $p \times q$
then $\mathbf A \oplus \mathbf B$ is a matrix with order $\paren {m + p} \times \paren {n + q}$.
\end{definition}