MATLAB Tutorial

a whirlwind tour
Hinke Osinga
h.m.osinga@bris.ac.uk

Engineering Mathematics
Queen’s Building 2.12

MATLAB Tutorial – p.1/30

The Basics
MATLAB can do everything a calculator does
>>(1+4)*3
ans =
15
As is standard:
+ and - are addition,
/ is division and * is multiplication,
ˆ is an exponent

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Everything is a Matrix!
In MATLAB, a scalar is actually a 1 × 1 matrix
a vector is an n × 1 or 1 × n matrix
>>a = 3
a =
3
a is the number 3, but also the 1 × 1 matrix [3]
Here is how to create a row vector
>>v = [1 2 3]
v =
1 2 3

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Everything is a Matrix!
A semicolon tells MATLAB to start a new row, so
>>w = [4; 5; 6]
w =
4
5
6

is a column vector.
With a ’ you turn a column vector into a row vector
>>w’
ans =
4 5 6
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Multiplication of matrices
You can multiply the vectors v and w
>>v*w
ans =
32
Recall: 1 × 3 times 3 × 1 gives 1 × 1
Similarly, 3 × 1 times 1 × 3 gives 3 × 3
>>A = w*v
A =
4 8 12
5 10 15
6 12 18
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Matrix operations
Standard multiplication is really matrix multiplication

Dimensions must match!

Try typing
>>v*v
However, MATLAB can do 1 × 1 times a matrix:
>>3*A
Check what MATLAB does when adding a scalar and
a matrix
>>A + 2
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Elementwise operations
Elementwise operations are done using a . before the
operator. For example, each element is squared using
>>sqv = v.ˆ2
sqv =
1 4 9
If two vectors (or matrices) have the same dimensions
you can perform an elementwise product
>>v.*sqv
ans =
1 8 27

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Functions operate elementwise
Functions operate on each element in a matrix:
>>exp(v)
ans =
2.7183 7.3891 20.0855

>>log(ans)
ans =
1 2 3

>>sqrt(v)
ans =
1.0000 1.4142 1.7321
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Special constants
The variable pi is a permanent variable with value π
>>pi
ans =
3.1416

>>y = tan(pi/6);

MATLAB suppresses the output if you end with ;

MATLAB saves the last output in the variable ans.

>>ans
ans =
3.1416
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Dealing with Matrices
To create a matrix, you could do something like:
>>M = [-3 0 1; 2 5 -7; -1 4 8]
The semicolons indicate the end of a row.
All rows have to be the same length.

The element in the third row, first column, is M(3,1)

You get the elements in rows 2 through 3 and
columns 1 through 2, by typing
>>M(2:3,1:2)
ans =
2 5
−1 4
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Extract a submatrix
So, to get the entire second column, you type
>>M(1:3,2)
which is the same as
>>M(:,2)
which is literally telling MATLAB to use all rows in the
second column

You get a whole row of a matrix with

>>M(1,:)

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Linear Algebra
At the heart of MATLAB is a powerful range of linear
algebra functions. For example, you can solve the
linear system M*x = w with unkown vector x
>>x = M\w
x =
−1.3717
1.3874
−0.1152
Is M*x indeed equal to w?
>>M*x,w

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Eigenvalues
The eigenvalues of M can be found using eig
>>e = eig(M)
e =
−2.8601
6.4300 + 5.0434i
6.4300 − 5.0434i
√
Here i is the imaginary unit, −1.

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Eigenvectors
The eigenvectors of M are found using two output
arguments for eig
>>[V, D] = eig(M);
the columns of the matrix V are the eigenvectors
The eigenvalues are on the diagonal of D

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Eigenvalues and eigenvectors
The first eigenvalue in D is associated with the first
eigenvector in V, so
>>ev1 = V(:,1)

>>M*ev1
ans =
−2.8094
0.3648
−0.3931

This should be equal to -2.8601*ev1

>>D(1,1)*ev1
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Equally spaced values
The colon notation is useful for constructing vectors
of equally spaced values
>>v = 1:6
v =
1 2 3 4 5 6
Non-unit increments are specified as follows
>>w=2:3:10, y=1:-0.25:0
w =
2 5 8

y =
1.0000 0.7500 0.5000 0.2500 0
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Generating matrices
You can build certain types of matrices automatically.
Try
>>Id = eye(3,3)

>>Y = zeros(3,5)

>>Z = ones(2)

Here the first argument is the number of rows

The second argument is the number of columns
With only one argument, the matrix becomes square

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Getting help
 Typing “help” at the MATLAB prompt gives you a
list of folders where MATLAB can find commands
in
 “help foldername” gives you a list of commands in
that folder
 “help commandname” gives help on a specific
command

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Plotting
Plotting the sine function from 0 to 10:
>>x = [0:0.1:10];

>>plot(x, sin(x))

If you type a second plot later, it will clear your first

plot:
>>plot(x, sin(x), ’r*’)

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Plotting two graphs in the same figure
You can add plots on top of one another, for example
>>plot(x, sin(x))

>>hold on

>>plot(x, sin(x), ’r*’)

>>hold off

shows both the data points and the curve.

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Other plotting options
Other colours and styles can be used as well:
>>plot(x, sin(x), ’m’,x, sin(x), ’xk’)

>>title(’The sine function’)

>>xlabel(’the x-axis’)

>>ylabel(’the y-axis’)

For more information type

>>help plot

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Printing a plot
Use “Print Preview” under the “File” menu of the
figure window before printing.
You can print directly to the printer, or save to a file
first

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Saving, and Loading
To interupt a session, the following may be useful
>>save filename.mat
will save all your variables and values in MATLAB
format.

>>load filename.mat

loads this file back into MATLAB, provided the

directory above the command window is properly set.

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Useful tools
 “clear M” causes MATLAB to forget about M
“clear all” clears the entire workspace
 who
will tell you all the variables currently defined
 whos
prints the variables, their sizes, and other info
 whos -file filename.mat
gives info on filename.mat before loading it
 format long and format short
switch between long and short display format.

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Scripts
A script is a list of commands to be run in some order.

Placing commands in a file that ends in .m allows you

to “run” the script by typing its name at the command
line.
You type the name without .m

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Scripts — Example
For example, get the file

mandelbrot.m
from the
Data Analysis Website

and save it in your preferred folder.

(click on “Website” if you cannot find this file)

Set the “Current Directory” above the command

window to this preferred folder, press return and type
>>mandelbrot

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for loop — Example
Inspect the file

mandelbrot.m
in your favourite editor.

This is a script file and it also shows how to do a for

loop.

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Functions
You can define your own functions in MATLAB.
A function must start with the line

function return-values = functionname(arguments)

so that MATLAB will recognize it as a function.

Each function needs to have its own file,

and the file must have the same name as the function.

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Functions — Example
For example, get the file

sierpinski.m
from the

Data Analysis Website

and save it in your preferred folder.

(click on “Website” if you cannot find this file)

This is a function file and it recursively generates

the famous Sierpinski fractal up to any level.

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Sierpinski
Set the “Current Directory” above the command
window to this preferred folder, press return and type
>>level = 5;

>>Pa = [0; 0]; Pb = [1; 0]; Pc = ...

[0.5; sqrt(3)/2];

>>sierpinski(Pa, Pb, Pc, level)

>>title([’Sierpinski fractal: level ’...

num2str(level)], ’FontSize’, 16)

>>axis(’equal’)
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