$${\textbf{Step 1: Consider a matrix which has 4
elements.}}$$
$${\text{As a matrix
contains four elements so, the order of a matrix can be,}}$$ $$1 \times 4$$ $${\text{or}}$$ $$4 \times 1$$ $${\text{or}}$$ $$2 \times 2.$$
$${\text{Also in every such
matrix, each element is independent and has 4 different choices}}$$ $$\left( {0, 1, 2, 3} \right)$$
$$\therefore $$ $${\text{The number of ways to fill four places of a
matrix of order 4}} \times {\text{1 by 0, 1, 2, 3}}$$
$$ = {}^4{C_1} \times {}^4{C_1} \times {}^4{C_1}
\times {}^4{C_1}$$
$$\therefore $$ $${\text{The number of ways to fill four places of a
matrix of order 4}} \times {\text{1 by 0, 1, 2, 3}}$$ $$ = 4 \times 4 \times 4 \times 4$$
$$\left(\mathbf {\because {}^n{C_1} = n} \right)$$
$$\therefore $$ $${\text{The
number of ways to fill four places of a matrix of order 4}} \times {\text{1 by
0, 1, 2, 3}}$$
$$ = {4^4} \ldots \left( 1 \right)$$
$${\textbf{Step 2: Find total number of matrices that can
be formed.}}$$
$${\text{From equation
}}\left( 1 \right)$$ $${\text{we can say
that, number of matrices in each order is }}{{\text{4}}^4}.$$
$${\text{Therefore,}}$$
$${\text{The number of
matrices that can be formed}}$$ $$ =
{4^4} + {4^4} + {4^4}$$
$$ \Rightarrow $$ $${\text{The number of matrices that can be formed}}$$ $$
= 3 \times {4^4}$$
$${\textbf{Hence, option (C)}}{\textbf{ 3}} \mathbf {\times {4^4}}$$ $${\textbf{is correct answer.}}$$