diff --git a/cachematrix.R b/cachematrix.R
index a50be65aa44..626486cf263 100644
--- a/cachematrix.R
+++ b/cachematrix.R
@@ -1,15 +1,52 @@
-## Put comments here that give an overall description of what your
-## functions do
-
-## Write a short comment describing this function
-
-makeCacheMatrix <- function(x = matrix()) {
-
+makeCacheMatrix <- function(x = numeric()) {
+  
+  # holds the cached value or NULL if nothing is cached
+  # initially nothing is cached so set it to NULL
+  cache <- NULL
+  
+  # store a matrix
+  setMatrix <- function(newValue) {
+    x <<- newValue
+    # since the matrix is assigned a new value, flush the cache
+    cache <<- NULL
+  }
+  
+  # returns the stored matrix
+  getMatrix <- function() {
+    x
+  }
+  
+  # cache the given argument 
+  cacheInverse <- function(solve) {
+    cache <<- solve
+  }
+  
+  # get the cached value
+  getInverse <- function() {
+    cache
+  }
+  
+  # return a list. Each named element of the list is a function
+  list(setMatrix = setMatrix, getMatrix = getMatrix, cacheInverse = cacheInverse, getInverse = getInverse)
 }
 
 
-## Write a short comment describing this function
-
-cacheSolve <- function(x, ...) {
-        ## Return a matrix that is the inverse of 'x'
+# The following function calculates the inverse of a "special" matrix created with 
+# makeCacheMatrix
+cacheSolve <- function(y, ...) {
+  # get the cached value
+  inverse <- y$getInverse()
+  # if a cached value exists return it
+  if(!is.null(inverse)) {
+    message("getting cached data")
+    return(inverse)
+  }
+  # otherwise get the matrix, caclulate the inverse and store it in
+  # the cache
+  data <- y$getMatrix()
+  inverse <- solve(data)
+  y$cacheInverse(inverse)
+  
+  # return the inverse
+  inverse
 }