title: Is access to multidimensional array is slower than to a linear array?
body: <p>I am developing a 4x4 matrix C++ class for my 3D geometry library. I am a bit confused about how to represent the matrix data values in a more efficient way.</p>
  
  <p>That's because <a href="http://www.j3d.org/matrix_faq/matrfaq_latest.html" rel="nofollow">The Matrix and Quaternions FAQ</a> says:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Using two dimensional arrays also incurs a CPU performance penalty in
      that C compilers will often make use of multiplication operations to
      resolve array index operations.
    So, it is more efficient to stick with linear arrays.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <ol>
  <li>Is access to multidimensional array are really that slow than to a linear array?</li>
  <li>Should I really prefer linear array over multidimensional to store 4x4 matrix data values?</li>
  </ol>