/* This is not a complete program */
#include <stddef.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

typedef float **matrix;

matrix mat_create(int row, int column) {
    float * elements, **rows; int i;

    /* First allocate the elements: */
    elements = (float*)malloc(row*column*sizeof(float));
    if (elements == NULL) {
        return NULL;            /* failure to allocate the element array */
    }

    /* Now allocate the rows: */
    rows = (float**)malloc(row*sizeof(float*));
    if (rows == NULL) {
        free(elements);         /* First return the allocated elements
                                   to the available space. */
        return NULL;
    }

    /* Now load the rows with addresses of the appropriate elements.
       Successive rows are 'column' floats apart. */
    for (i=0; i<row; i++) {
        rows[i] = &elements[column*i];
    }

    return rows;        /* The address of the initialized row array */
}