## a and b are free parameters with starting values and labels
(a1 <- matrix(c(1:4, "5*a", 6, "7*b", 8, 9), ncol=3, nrow=3))
# [,1] [,2] [,3]
# [1,] "1" "4" "7*b"
# [2,] "2" "5*a" "8"
# [3,] "3" "6" "9"
(as.symMatrix(a1))
# [,1] [,2] [,3]
# [1,] "1" "4" "b"
# [2,] "2" "a" "8"
# [3,] "3" "6" "9"
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