cachematrix.R

## Put comments here that give an overall description of what your
## functions do

# The first function, `makeCacheMatrix` creates a special inverse cacheable "matrix", which is
# really a list containing a function to
# 
# 1.  set the value of the matrix
# 2.  get the value of the matrix
# 3.  set the value of the inverse
# 4.  get the value of the inverse

makeCacheMatrix <- function(x = matrix()) {
  inv <- NULL
  set <- function(newMat)
  {
    x <<- newMat
    inv <<- NULL
  }
  get <- function() x
  getinverse <- function() inv
  setinverse <- function(i) inv <<- i
  
  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 `get`s 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, ...) {
        ## Return a matrix that is the inverse of 'x'
        inv <- x$getinverse()
        if(!is.null(inv)) {
          message('getting cached inverse')
          return(inv)
        }
        mat <- x$get()
        inv <- solve(mat)
        x$setinverse(inv)
        inv
}