diff --git a/cachematrix.R b/cachematrix.R
index a50be65aa44..69a2a01d1f8 100644
--- a/cachematrix.R
+++ b/cachematrix.R
@@ -1,15 +1,37 @@
-## Put comments here that give an overall description of what your
-## functions do
-
-## Write a short comment describing this function
+## the following two functions are used to create a special object that
+## stores a matrix and caches the inverse of that matrix once computed
 
+## makeCacheMatrix returns a list of functions with a function to 
+## set the value of a matrix,
+## get the value of the matrix,
+## set the inverse of the matrix, 
+## get the inverse of the matrix
 makeCacheMatrix <- function(x = matrix()) {
-
+    x.inv <- NULL
+    set <- function(y) {
+        x <<- y
+        x.inv <<- NULL
+    }
+    get <- function() x
+    setinv <- function(inv){
+        x.inv <<- inv    
+    }
+    getinv <- function() x.inv
+    list(set=set,get=get,setinv=setinv,getinv=getinv)
 }
 
-
-## Write a short comment describing this function
-
+## cacheSolve returns the inverse of 'x' from cached data if available
+## otherwise, it computes the inverse of 'x' using 'solve', stores the
+## inverse of 'x' in cache and prints it on the console
 cacheSolve <- function(x, ...) {
-        ## Return a matrix that is the inverse of 'x'
+    ## Return a matrix that is the inverse of 'x'
+    m <- x$getinv()
+    if(!is.null(m)){
+        message("getting cached data")
+        return(m)
+    }
+    data<-x$get()
+    m <- solve(data, ...)
+    x$setinv(m)
+    m
 }