diff --git a/cachematrix.R b/cachematrix.R
index a50be65aa44..4a49c912439 100644
--- a/cachematrix.R
+++ b/cachematrix.R
@@ -1,15 +1,39 @@
-## Put comments here that give an overall description of what your
-## functions do
-
-## Write a short comment describing this function
+## Functions to solve for the inverse of a square matrix, and cache the result for reuse
 
+## create a matrix object that can cache its inverse
 makeCacheMatrix <- function(x = matrix()) {
-
+  m <- NULL
+  ## set: store the given matrix along with variable m to store inverse
+  set <- function(y) {
+    x <<- y
+    m <<- NULL
+  }
+  ## get: just return matrix x
+  get <- function() x
+  ## setmatrix: cache inverse for later reuse
+  setmatrix <- function(solve) m <<- solve
+  ## getmatrix: return cached inverse of x
+  getmatrix <- function() m
+  ## return list of above functions for use by cacheSolve
+  list(set = set, get = get,
+       setmatrix = setmatrix,
+       getmatrix = getmatrix)
 }
 
-
-## Write a short comment describing this function
-
-cacheSolve <- function(x, ...) {
-        ## Return a matrix that is the inverse of 'x'
+## calculate the inverse of a given matrix, using cached solution if available
+cacheSolve <- function(x=matrix(), ...) {
+  ## get matrix along with cached inverse, if available
+  m <- x$getmatrix()
+  ## if cached inverse exists, return that
+  if(!is.null(m)) {
+    message("getting cached data")
+    return(m)
+  }
+  ## otherwise, get matrix data and calculate inverse
+  data <- x$get()
+  m <- solve(data, ...)
+  ## cache the inverse for later reuse
+  x$setmatrix(m)
+  ## return the matrix's inverse
+  m
 }