diff --git a/cachematrix.R b/cachematrix.R
index a50be65aa44..2c9160c9693 100644
--- a/cachematrix.R
+++ b/cachematrix.R
@@ -1,15 +1,44 @@
-## Put comments here that give an overall description of what your
-## functions do
 
-## Write a short comment describing this function
+## The first function, makeCacheMatrix creates a list containing functions to
+## set the values of the matrix - set
+## get the values of the matrix - get
+## set the inverse of the matix - setinverse
+## get the inverse of the matrix - getinverse
+
 
-makeCacheMatrix <- function(x = matrix()) {
 
-}
+makeCacheMatrix <- function(x = matrix()) {
+   m <- NULL
+   set <- function(y) {
+     x <<- y
+     m <<- NULL
+   }
+   get <- function() x
+   setinverse <- function(solve) m <<- solve
+   getinverse <- function() m
+   list(set = set, get = get,
+        setinverse = setinverse,
+        getinverse = getinverse)
+ }
+    
+ 
 
+## cacheSolve calculates the inverse of the matrix using makeCacheMatrix. 
+## It first checks to see if the inverse has already been calculated using !is.null. 
+## If the inverse has been calculated, it gets the inverse from the cache and does not compute the inverse.
+## If the inverse has not been calculated it does the following -
+##   it calculates the inverse of the matrix using solve 
+##   it places the inverse in the cache using the setinverse function.
 
-## Write a short comment describing this function
 
 cacheSolve <- function(x, ...) {
-        ## Return a matrix that is the inverse of 'x'
-}
+  m <- x$getinverse()
+  if(!is.null(m)) {
+     message("getting cached data")
+     return(m)
+  }
+  data <- x$get()
+  m <- solve(data, ...)
+  x$setinverse(m)
+  m
+ }