diff --git a/cachematrix.R b/cachematrix.R
index a50be65aa44..b2f7c76b9b0 100644
--- a/cachematrix.R
+++ b/cachematrix.R
@@ -1,15 +1,45 @@
-## Put comments here that give an overall description of what your
-## functions do
+# A pair of functions to set up variables for persisting state, and logic to determine
+# whether the state has changed since the data was loaded. 
 
-## Write a short comment describing this function
+## makeCacheMatrix() - a function that accepts a matrix and contains four functions to cache
+## and retrieve the inverse of the passed matrix. 
 
 makeCacheMatrix <- function(x = matrix()) {
-
+   # variable to store cached solve value:
+   m <- NULL
+   # create x setter function
+   set <- function(y) {
+      # sets x in parent environment
+      x <<- y
+      # nulls out m in case cached value exists
+      m <<- NULL
+   }
+   # one-liner - returns current state of x:
+   get <- function() x
+   # receiving setter function for call from cacheSolve:
+   setsolve <- function(solve) m <<- solve
+   # returns value of m set by setSolve if it exists:
+   getsolve <- function() m
+   # attaches functions to object accessible via obj$functionName call
+   list(set = set, get = get,
+        setsolve = setsolve,
+        getsolve = getsolve)
 }
 
-
-## Write a short comment describing this function
-
+# helper function to retrieve value of a makeCacheMatrix object's inverse if it has already been computed and stored.
+# otherwise it calculates the solve(), stores it via makeCacheMatrix's $setsolve() function, 
+# and returns it to the function caller.
 cacheSolve <- function(x, ...) {
-        ## Return a matrix that is the inverse of 'x'
+   #call original object's getter function for current value of solve
+   m <- x$getsolve()
+   # if it's already set, return it
+   if(!is.null(m)) {
+      message("getting cached data")
+      return(m)
+   }
+   # else compute the solve for x and return it
+   data <- x$get()
+   m <- solve(data, ...)
+   x$setsolve(m)
+   m
 }