  We provide novel coded computation strategies for distributed matrix-matrix
products that outperform the recent "Polynomial code" constructions in recovery
threshold, i.e., the required number of successful workers. When $m$-th
fraction of each matrix can be stored in each worker node, Polynomial codes
require $m^2$ successful workers, while our MatDot codes only require $2m-1$
successful workers, albeit at a higher communication cost from each worker to
the fusion node. We also provide a systematic construction of MatDot codes.
Further, we propose "PolyDot" coding that interpolates between Polynomial codes
and MatDot codes to trade off communication cost and recovery threshold.
Finally, we demonstrate a coding technique for multiplying $n$ matrices ($n
\geq 3$) by applying MatDot and PolyDot coding ideas.
