cachematrix.R

## The calculation of the inverse can be costly, we will create functions to cache it

##  makeCacheMatrix creates a special "matrix", which is really a list containing a function to
## set the value of the matrix
## get the value of the matrix
## set the value of the inverse
## get the value of the inverse
makeCacheMatrix <- function(x = matrix()) {
  m <- NULL
  set <- function(y) {
    x <<- y
    m <<- NULL
  }
  get <- function() x
  setinverse <- function(inverse) m <<- inverse
  getinverse <- function() m
  list(
    set = set,
    get = get,
    setinverse = setinverse,
    getinverse = getinverse
  )
}

## The following function calculates the inverse of the special "matrix" created with the above function. 
## However, it first checks to see if the inverse has already been calculated. 
## If so, it gets the inverse from the cache and skips the computation. 
## Otherwise, it calculates the inverse of the data and sets the value of the inverse in the cache via the setinverse function.
cacheSolve <- function(x, ...) {
  inv <- x$getinverse()
  if (!is.null(inv)) {
    message("getting cached data")
    return(inv)
  }
  matrixData <- x$get()
  inv <- solve(matrixData, ...)
  x$setinverse(inv)
  inv
}