// This is the fully general way to initialise a matrix.
// There are shorter ways to specify initialisation,
// but this is always what happens under the covers.
// Note how you never specify the array's size in its type declaration.
int[][] mat;
// for each row, allocate a slot for a pointer to an array
mat = new int [3][];
for ( int i=0; i<3; i++ )
   {
   // allocate an array for each row
   mat[i] = new int[5];
   for ( int j=0; j<5; j++ )
      {
      mat[i][j] = i*j+100;
      }
   }