##What is a distance matrix in the context of bioinformatics?
A distance matrix, in the context of bioinformatics and computational biology, is a symmetric table or matrix that quantifies the similarity or dissimilarity between a set of objects, often biological sequences (e.g., DNA, RNA, proteins) or species. Each entry in the matrix represents a measure of the distance or dissimilarity between two objects. The distance can be a measure of similarity (e.g., sequence similarity) or dissimilarity (e.g., evolutionary distance).