A formula that calculates the number of n x m matrices in A(R, S) was presented by Wang (Sci. sinica Ser. A 1 (1988) 1). This formula has 2(n) - 2n variables. Later, in 1998, a reduced formula was proposed by Wang and Zhang, in which the number of involved variables was reduced to only 2(n-1) -n. The reduction in the number of variables is important, but it continues being of order 2(n). In this paper a new reduced formula is presented. This formula contains only (n - 2)(n - 1)/2 variables, that is, of order n(2) (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.