MATLAB

MATLAB
Local Environment Setup

Setting up MATLAB environment is a matter of few clicks. The installer can
be downloaded from here.
MathWorks provides the licensed product, a trial version and a student

version as well. You need to log into the site and wait a little for their
approval.
After downloading the installer the software can be installed through few
clicks.
Understanding the MATLAB Environment
MATLAB development IDE can be launched from the icon created on the
desktop. The main working window in MATLAB is called the desktop. When
MATLAB is started, the desktop appears in its default layout
The desktop has the following panels
Current Folder This panel allows you to access the project folders and files.
Command Window This is the main area where commands can be entered
at the command line. It is indicated by the command prompt (>>).
Workspace The workspace shows all the variables created and/or imported
from files.
Command History This panel shows or rerun commands that are entered at
the command line.
MATLAB environment behaves like a super-complex calculator. You can

enter commands at the >> command prompt.
MATLAB is an interpreted environment. In other words, you give a

command and MATLAB executes it right away.
Hands on Practice
Type a valid expression, for example,
5+5
And press ENTER

When you click the Execute button, or type Ctrl+E, MATLAB executes it
immediately and the result returned is
ans = 10
Let us take up few more examples
3^2 % 3 raised to the power of 2
ans = 9
Another example,
sin(pi /2) % sine of angle 90o
ans = 1
Another example,
7/0 % Divide by zero
ans = Inf
warning: division by zero
Another example,
732 * 20.3
ans = 1.4860e+04
MATLAB provides some special expressions for some mathematical symbols,

like pi for , Inf for , i (and j) for -1 etc. Nan stands for 'not a number'.
Use of Semicolon (;) in MATLAB

Semicolon (;) indicates end of statement. However, if you want to suppress
and hide the MATLAB output for an expression, add a semicolon after the
expression.
For example,
x = 3;
y=x+5
y= 8
Adding Comments
The percent symbol (%) is used for indicating a comment line. For example,
x=9 % assign the value 9 to x
You can also write a block of comments using the block comment operators
% { and % }.
The MATLAB editor includes tools and context menu items to help you add,
remove, or change the format of comments.
Commonly used Operators and Special

Characters
MATLAB supports the following commonly used operators and special
characters
Operator Purpose
+ Plus; addition operator.
- Minus; subtraction operator.
* Scalar and matrix multiplication operator.
.* Array multiplication operator.
^ Scalar and matrix exponentiation operator.
.^ Array exponentiation operator.
\ Left-division operator.
/ Right-division operator.
.\ Array left-division operator.
./ Array right-division operator.
: Colon; generates regularly spaced elements and

represents an entire row or column.
() Parentheses; encloses function arguments and

array indices; overrides precedence.
[] Brackets; enclosures array elements.
. Decimal point.
Ellipsis; line-continuation operator

, Comma; separates statements and elements in a
row
; Semicolon; separates columns and suppresses

display.
% Percent sign; designates a comment and specifies

formatting.
_ Quote sign and transpose operator.
._ Nonconjugated transpose operator.
= Assignment operator.
Special Variables and Constants

MATLAB supports the following special variables and constants:
Name Meaning
ans Most recent answer.
eps Accuracy of floating-point precision.
i,j The imaginary unit -1.
Inf Infinity.
NaN Undefined numerical result (not a number).
pi The number
Naming Variables
Variable names consist of a letter followed by any number of letters, digits
or underscore.
MATLAB is case-sensitive.
Variable names can be of any length, however, MATLAB uses only first N
characters, where N is given by the function namelengthmax.
Saving Your Work

The save command is used for saving all the variables in the workspace, as
a file with .mat extension, in the current directory.
For example,
save myfile
You can reload the file anytime later using the load command.
load myfile
In MATLAB environment, every variable is an array or matrix.
You can assign variables in a simple way. For example,
x=3 % defining x and initializing it with a value
MATLAB will execute the above statement and return the following result
x=3
It creates a 1-by-1 matrix named x and stores the value 3 in its element.
Let us check another example,
x = sqrt(16) % defining x and initializing it with an expression
x=4
Please note that
Once a variable is entered into the system, you can refer to it later.
Variables must have values before they are used.
When an expression returns a result that is not assigned to any variable, the
system assigns it to a variable named ans, which can be used later.
For example,
sqrt(78)
ans = 8.8318
You can use this variable ans
sqrt(78);
9876/ans
ans = 1118.2
Let's look at another example
x = 7 * 8;
y = x * 7.89
y = 441.84
Multiple Assignments
You can have multiple assignments on the same line. For example,
a = 2; b = 7; c = a * b
c = 14
I have forgotten the Variables!

The who command displays all the variable names you have used.
who
Your variables are:

a ans b c
The whos command displays little more about the variables
Variables currently in memory
Type of each variables
Memory allocated to each variable
Whether they are complex variables or not
whos
Attr Name Size Bytes Class

==== ==== ==== ==== =====
a 1x1 8 double
ans 1x70 757 cell
b 1x1 8 double
c 1x1 8 double
Total is 73 elements using 781 bytes
The clear command deletes all (or the specified) variable(s) from the
memory.
clear x % it will delete x, won't display anything

clear % it will delete all variables in the workspace
% peacefully and unobtrusively
Long Assignments
Long assignments can be extended to another line by using an ellipses (...).
For example,
initial_velocity = 0;
acceleration = 9.8;
time = 20;
final_velocity = initial_velocity + acceleration * time
final_velocity = 196
The format Command

By default, MATLAB displays numbers with four decimal place values. This is
known as short format.
However, if you want more precision, you need to use

the format command.
The format long command displays 16 digits after decimal.
For example
format long
x = 7 + 10/3 + 5 ^ 1.2
x = 17.2319816406394
Another example,
format short
x = 7 + 10/3 + 5 ^ 1.2
x = 17.232
The format bank command rounds numbers to two decimal places. For
example,
format bank
daily_wage = 177.45;
weekly_wage = daily_wage * 6
weekly_wage = 1064.70
MATLAB displays large numbers using exponential notation.
The format short e command allows displaying in exponential form with

four decimal places plus the exponent.
For example,
format short e
4.678 * 4.9
ans = 2.2922e+01
The format long e command allows displaying in exponential form with

four decimal places plus the exponent. For example,
format long e
x = pi
x = 3.141592653589793e+00
The format rat command gives the closest rational expression resulting
from a calculation. For example,
format rat
4.678 * 4.9
ans = 34177/1491
Creating Vectors
A vector is a one-dimensional array of numbers. MATLAB allows creating
two types of vectors:
Row vectors
Column vectors
Row vectors are created by enclosing the set of elements in square

brackets, using space or comma to delimit the elements.
For example,
r = [7 8 9 10 11]
r=
7 8 9 10 11
Another example,
r = [7 8 9 10 11];
t = [2, 3, 4, 5, 6];
res = r + t
res =
9 11 13 15 17
Column vectors are created by enclosing the set of elements in square

brackets, using semicolon(;) to delimit the elements.
c = [7; 8; 9; 10; 11]
c=
7
8
9
10
11
Creating Matrices
A matrix is a two-dimensional array of numbers.
In MATLAB, a matrix is created by entering each row as a sequence of space

or comma separated elements, and end of a row is demarcated by a
semicolon. For example, let us create a 3-by-3 matrix as:
m = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 9]
m=
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
MATLAB is an interactive program for numerical computation and data

visualization. You can enter a command by typing it at the MATLAB prompt
'>>' on the Command Window.
In this section, we will provide lists of commonly used general MATLAB

commands.
Commands for Managing a Session

MATLAB provides various commands for managing a session. The following
table provides all such commands
Command Purpose
clc Clears command window.
clear Removes variables from memory.

exist Checks for existence of file or variable.
global Declares variables to be global.
help Searches for a help topic.
lookfor Searches help entries for a keyword.
quit Stops MATLAB.
who Lists current variables.
whos Lists current variables (long display).
Commands for Working with the System

MATLAB provides various useful commands for working with the system,
like saving the current work in the workspace as a file and loading the file
later.
It also provides various commands for other system-related activities like,

displaying date, listing files in the directory, displaying current directory,
etc.
The following table displays some commonly used system-related

commands
Command Purpose
cd Changes current directory.
date Displays current date.
delete Deletes a file.

diary Switches on/off diary file recording.
dir Lists all files in current directory.
load Loads workspace variables from a file.
path Displays search path.
pwd Displays current directory.
save Saves workspace variables in a file.
type Displays contents of a file.
what Lists all MATLAB files in the current directory.
wklread Reads .wk1 spreadsheet file.
Input and Output Commands

MATLAB provides the following input and output related commands
Command Purpose
disp Displays contents of an array or string.
fscanf Read formatted data from a file.
format Controls screen-display format.

fprintf Performs formatted writes to screen or file.
input Displays prompts and waits for input.
; Suppresses screen printing.
The fscanf and fprintf commands behave like C scanf and printf functions.
They support the following format codes
Format Code Purpose
%s Format as a string.
%d Format as an integer.
%f Format as a floating point value.
%e Format as a floating point value in scientific

notation.
%g Format in the most compact form: %f or %e.
\n Insert a new line in the output string.
\t Insert a tab in the output string.
The format function has the following forms used for numeric display
Format Display up to
Function
format short Four decimal digits (default).

format long 16 decimal digits.
format short e Five digits plus exponent.
format long e 16 digits plus exponents.
format bank Two decimal digits.
format + Positive, negative, or zero.
format rat Rational approximation.
format Suppresses some line feeds.

compact
format loose Resets to less compact display mode.
Vector, Matrix and Array Commands

The following table shows various commands used for working with arrays,
matrices and vectors
Command Purpose
cat Concatenates arrays.
find Finds indices of nonzero elements.
length Computes number of elements.
linspace Creates regularly spaced vector.
logspace Creates logarithmically spaced vector.

max Returns largest element.
min Returns smallest element.
prod Product of each column.
reshape Changes size.
size Computes array size.
sort Sorts each column.
sum Sums each column.
eye Creates an identity matrix.
ones Creates an array of ones.
zeros Creates an array of zeros.
cross Computes matrix cross products.
dot Computes matrix dot products.
det Computes determinant of an array.
inv Computes inverse of a matrix.
pinv Computes pseudoinverse of a matrix.

rank Computes rank of a matrix.
rref Computes reduced row echelon form.
cell Creates cell array.
celldisp Displays cell array.
cellplot Displays graphical representation of cell array.
num2cell Converts numeric array to cell array.
deal Matches input and output lists.
iscell Identifies cell array.
Plotting Commands
MATLAB provides numerous commands for plotting graphs. The following
table shows some of the commonly used commands for plotting
Command Purpose
axis Sets axis limits.
fplot Intelligent plotting of functions.
grid Displays gridlines.
plot Generates xy plot.

print Prints plot or saves plot to a file.
title Puts text at top of plot.
xlabel Adds text label to x-axis.
ylabel Adds text label to y-axis.
axes Creates axes objects.
close Closes the current plot.
close all Closes all plots.
figure Opens a new figure window.
gtext Enables label placement by mouse.
hold Freezes current plot.
legend Legend placement by mouse.
refresh Redraws current figure window.
set Specifies properties of objects such as axes.
subplot Creates plots in subwindows.
text Places string in figure.
bar Creates bar chart.

loglog Creates log-log plot.
polar Creates polar plot.
semilogx Creates semilog plot. (logarithmic abscissa).
semilogy Creates semilog plot. (logarithmic ordinate).
stairs Creates stairs plot.
stem Creates stem plot.
So far, we have used MATLAB environment as a calculator. However,

MATLAB is also a powerful programming language, as well as an interactive
computational environment.
In previous chapters, you have learned how to enter commands from the
MATLAB command prompt. MATLAB also allows you to write series of
commands into a file and execute the file as complete unit, like writing a
function and calling it.
The M Files
MATLAB allows writing two kinds of program files
Scripts script files are program files with .m extension. In these files, you
write series of commands, which you want to execute together. Scripts do not
accept inputs and do not return any outputs. They operate on data in the
workspace.
Functions functions files are also program files with .m extension. Functions
can accept inputs and return outputs. Internal variables are local to the
function.
You can use the MATLAB editor or any other text editor to create
your .mfiles. In this section, we will discuss the script files. A script file
contains multiple sequential lines of MATLAB commands and function calls.
You can run a script by typing its name at the command line.
Creating and Running Script File

To create scripts files, you need to use a text editor. You can open the
MATLAB editor in two ways:
Using the command prompt
Using the IDE
If you are using the command prompt, type edit in the command prompt.
This will open the editor. You can directly type edit and then the filename
(with .m extension)
edit
Or
edit <filename>
The above command will create the file in default MATLAB directory. If you
want to store all program files in a specific folder, then you will have to
provide the entire path.
Let us create a folder named progs. Type the following commands at the
command prompt (>>):
mkdir progs % create directory progs under default directory

chdir progs % changing the current directory to progs
edit prog1.m % creating an m file named prog1.m
If you are creating the file for first time, MATLAB prompts you to confirm it.
Click Yes.
Alternatively, if you are using the IDE, choose NEW -> Script. This also
opens the editor and creates a file named Untitled. You can name and save
the file after typing the code.
Type the following code in the editor
NoOfStudents = 6000;
TeachingStaf = 150;
NonTeachingStaf = 20;
Total = NoOfStudents + TeachingStaf ...
+ NonTeachingStaf;
disp(Total);
After creating and saving the file, you can run it in two ways
Clicking the Run button on the editor window or
Just typing the filename (without extension) in the command prompt: >> prog1
The command window prompt displays the result
6170
Example
Create a script file, and type the following code
a = 5; b = 7;
c=a+b
d = c + sin(b)
e=5*d
f = exp(-d)
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following
result
c= 12
d= 12.657
e= 63.285
f= 3.1852e-06
MATLAB does not require any type declaration or dimension statements.

Whenever MATLAB encounters a new variable name, it creates the variable
and allocates appropriate memory space.
If the variable already exists, then MATLAB replaces the original content
with new content and allocates new storage space, where necessary.
For example,
Total = 42
The above statement creates a 1-by-1 matrix named 'Total' and stores the
value 42 in it.
Data Types Available in MATLAB

MATLAB provides 15 fundamental data types. Every data type stores data
that is in the form of a matrix or array. The size of this matrix or array is a
minimum of 0-by-0 and this can grow up to a matrix or array of any size.
The following table shows the most commonly used data types in MATLAB
Data Type Description
int8 8-bit signed integer
uint8 8-bit unsigned integer
single single precision numerical data
double double precision numerical data
logical logical values of 1 or 0, represent true and false

respectively
char character data (strings are stored as vector of

characters)
cell array array of indexed cells, each capable of storing an

array of a different dimension and data type
structure C-like structures, each structure having named
fields capable of storing an array of a different
dimension and data type
function handle pointer to a function
user classes objects constructed from a user-defined class
java classes objects constructed from a Java class
Example
Create a script file with the following code
str = 'Hello World!'

n = 2345
d = double(n)
un = uint32(789.50)
rn = 5678.92347
c = int32(rn)
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following
result
str = Hello World!

n = 2345
d = 2345
un = 790
rn = 5678.9
c = 5679
Data Type Conversion

MATLAB provides various functions for converting, a value from one data
type to another. The following table shows the data type conversion
functions
Function Purpose
char Convert to character array (string)
int2str Convert integer data to string
mat2str Convert matrix to string
num2str Convert number to string
str2double Convert string to double-precision value
str2num Convert string to number
native2unicode Convert numeric bytes to Unicode characters
unicode2native Convert Unicode characters to numeric bytes
base2dec Convert base N number string to decimal number
bin2dec Convert binary number string to decimal number
dec2base Convert decimal to base N number in string
dec2bin Convert decimal to binary number in string
dec2hex Convert decimal to hexadecimal number in string
hex2dec Convert hexadecimal number string to decimal

number
hex2num Convert hexadecimal number string to double-
precision number
num2hex Convert singles and doubles to IEEE hexadecimal

strings
cell2mat Convert cell array to numeric array
cell2struct Convert cell array to structure array
cellstr Create cell array of strings from character array
mat2cell Convert array to cell array with potentially

different sized cells
num2cell Convert array to cell array with consistently sized

cells
struct2cell Convert structure to cell array
Determination of Data Types

MATLAB provides various functions for identifying data type of a variable.
Following table provides the functions for determining the data type of a
variable
Function Purpose
is Detect state
isa Determine if input is object of specified class

iscell Determine whether input is cell array
iscellstr Determine whether input is cell array of strings
ischar Determine whether item is character array
isfield Determine whether input is structure array field
isfloat Determine if input is floating-point array
ishghandle True for Handle Graphics object handles
isinteger Determine if input is integer array
isjava Determine if input is Java object
islogical Determine if input is logical array
isnumeric Determine if input is numeric array
isobject Determine if input is MATLAB object
isreal Check if input is real array
isscalar Determine whether input is scalar
isstr Determine whether input is character array
isstruct Determine whether input is structure array
isvector Determine whether input is vector

class Determine class of object
validateattributes Check validity of array
whos List variables in workspace, with sizes and types
Example
x=3
isinteger(x)
isfloat(x)
isvector(x)
isscalar(x)
isnumeric(x)
x = 23.54
isinteger(x)
isfloat(x)
isvector(x)
isscalar(x)
isnumeric(x)
x = [1 2 3]
isinteger(x)
isfloat(x)
isvector(x)
isscalar(x)
x = 'Hello'
isinteger(x)
isfloat(x)
isvector(x)
isscalar(x)
isnumeric(x)
When you run the file, it produces the following result
x=3
ans = 0
ans = 1
ans = 1
ans = 1
ans = 1
x = 1177/50
ans = 0
ans = 1
ans = 1
ans = 1
ans = 1
x=
1 2 3
ans = 0
ans = 1
ans = 1
ans = 0
x = Hello
ans = 0
ans = 0
ans = 1
ans = 0
ans = 0
An operator is a symbol that tells the compiler to perform specific

mathematical or logical manipulations. MATLAB is designed to operate
primarily on whole matrices and arrays. Therefore, operators in MATLAB
work both on scalar and non-scalar data. MATLAB allows the following types
of elementary operations
Arithmetic Operators
Relational Operators
Logical Operators
Bitwise Operations
Set Operations
MATLAB allows two different types of arithmetic operations
Matrix arithmetic operations
Array arithmetic operations
Matrix arithmetic operations are same as defined in linear algebra. Array

operations are executed element by element, both on one-dimensional and
multidimensional array.
The matrix operators and array operators are differentiated by the period
(.) symbol. However, as the addition and subtraction operation is same for
matrices and arrays, the operator is same for both cases. The following
table gives brief description of the operators
Show Examples
Operator Description
+ Addition or unary plus. A+B adds the values stored in

variables A and B. A and B must have the same size,
unless one is a scalar. A scalar can be added to a matrix
of any size.
- Subtraction or unary minus. A-B subtracts the value of

B from A. A and B must have the same size, unless one
is a scalar. A scalar can be subtracted from a matrix of
any size.
* Matrix multiplication. C = A*B is the linear algebraic

product of the matrices A and B. More precisely,
For non-scalar A and B, the number of columns of A
must be equal to the number of rows of B. A scalar can
multiply a matrix of any size.
.* Array multiplication. A.*B is the element-by-element

product of the arrays A and B. A and B must have the
same size, unless one of them is a scalar.
/ Slash or matrix right division. B/A is roughly the same

as B*inv(A). More precisely, B/A = (A'\B')'.
./ Array right division. A./B is the matrix with elements

A(i,j)/B(i,j). A and B must have the same size, unless
one of them is a scalar.
\ Backslash or matrix left division. If A is a square matrix,

A\B is roughly the same as inv(A)*B, except it is
computed in a different way. If A is an n-by-n matrix
and B is a column vector with n components, or a
matrix with several such columns, then X = A\B is the
solution to the equation AX = B. A warning message is
displayed if A is badly scaled or nearly singular.
.\ Array left division. A.\B is the matrix with elements

B(i,j)/A(i,j). A and B must have the same size, unless
^ Matrix power. X^p is X to the power p, if p is a scalar. If

p is an integer, the power is computed by repeated
squaring. If the integer is negative, X is inverted first.
For other values of p, the calculation involves
eigenvalues and eigenvectors, such that if [V,D] =
eig(X), then X^p = V*D.^p/V.
.^ Array power. A.^B is the matrix with elements A(i,j) to

the B(i,j) power. A and B must have the same size,
unless one of them is a scalar.
' Matrix transpose. A' is the linear algebraic transpose of

A. For complex matrices, this is the complex conjugate
transpose.
.' Array transpose. A.' is the array transpose of A. For

complex matrices, this does not involve conjugation.
Relational operators can also work on both scalar and non-scalar data.
Relational operators for arrays perform element-by-element comparisons
between two arrays and return a logical array of the same size, with
elements set to logical 1 (true) where the relation is true and elements set
to logical 0 (false) where it is not.
The following table shows the relational operators available in MATLAB:
Show Examples
< Less than
<= Less than or equal to
> Greater than
>= Greater than or equal to
== Equal to
~= Not equal to
Logical Operators
MATLAB offers two types of logical operators and functions:
Element-wise These operators operate on corresponding elements of logical

arrays.
Short-circuit These operators operate on scalar and, logical expressions.
Element-wise logical operators operate element-by-element on logical

arrays. The symbols &, |, and ~ are the logical array operators AND, OR,
and NOT.
Short-circuit logical operators allow short-circuiting on logical operations.
The symbols && and || are the logical short-circuit operators AND and OR.
Show Examples
Bitwise Operations
Bitwise operators work on bits and perform bit-by-bit operation. The truth
tables for &, |, and ^ are as follows
p q p&q p|q p^q
0 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 1 1
1 1 1 1 0
1 0 0 1 1
Assume if A = 60; and B = 13; Now in binary format they will be as follows:
A = 0011 1100
B = 0000 1101
-----------------
A&B = 0000 1100
A|B = 0011 1101
A^B = 0011 0001
~A = 1100 0011
MATLAB provides various functions for bit-wise operations like 'bitwise and',
'bitwise or' and 'bitwise not' operations, shift operation, etc.
The following table shows the commonly used bitwise operations:
Show Examples
Function Purpose
bitand(a, b) Bit-wise AND of integers a and b
bitcmp(a) Bit-wise complement of a
bitget(a,pos) Get bit at specified position pos, in the integer

array a
bitor(a, b) Bit-wise OR of integers a and b
bitset(a, pos) Set bit at specific location pos of a
bitshift(a, k) Returns a shifted to the left by k bits, equivalent

to multiplying by 2k. Negative values of k
correspond to shifting bits right or dividing by 2 |k|
and rounding to the nearest integer towards
negative infinite. Any overflow bits are truncated.
bitxor(a, b) Bit-wise XOR of integers a and b
swapbytes Swap byte ordering
Set Operations
MATLAB provides various functions for set operations, like union,
intersection and testing for set membership, etc.
The following table shows some commonly used set operations
Show Examples
Function Description
intersect(A,B) Set intersection of two arrays; returns the

values common to both A and B. The values
returned are in sorted order.
intersect(A,B,'rows') Treats each row of A and each row of B as

single entities and returns the rows common
to both A and B. The rows of the returned
matrix are in sorted order.
ismember(A,B) Returns an array the same size as A,

containing 1 (true) where the elements of A
are found in B. Elsewhere, it returns 0
(false).
ismember(A,B,'rows') Treats each row of A and each row of B as

single entities and returns a vector
containing 1 (true) where the rows of matrix
A are also rows of B. Elsewhere, it returns 0
(false).
issorted(A) Returns logical 1 (true) if the elements of A

are in sorted order and logical 0 (false)
otherwise. Input A can be a vector or an N-
by-1 or 1-by-N cell array of strings. A is
considered to be sorted if A and the
output of sort(A) are equal.
issorted(A, 'rows') Returns logical 1 (true) if the rows of two-

dimensional matrix A is in sorted order, and
logical 0 (false) otherwise. Matrix A is
output of sortrows(A) are equal.
setdiff(A,B) Sets difference of two arrays; returns the

values in A that are not in B. The values in
the returned array are in sorted order.
setdiff(A,B,'rows')
Treats each row of A and each row of B as
single entities and returns the rows from A
that are not in B. The rows of the returned
The 'rows' option does not support cell

arrays.
setxor Sets exclusive OR of two arrays
Union Sets union of two arrays
unique Unique values in array
An operator is a symbol that tells the compiler to perform specific

mathematical or logical manipulations. MATLAB is designed to operate
primarily on whole matrices and arrays. Therefore, operators in MATLAB
work both on scalar and non-scalar data. MATLAB allows the following types
of elementary operations
Logical Operators
Bitwise Operations
Set Operations
MATLAB allows two different types of arithmetic operations
Matrix arithmetic operations
Array arithmetic operations

Matrix arithmetic operations are same as defined in linear algebra. Array
operations are executed element by element, both on one-dimensional and
multidimensional array.
The matrix operators and array operators are differentiated by the period
(.) symbol. However, as the addition and subtraction operation is same for
matrices and arrays, the operator is same for both cases. The following
table gives brief description of the operators
Show Examples
+ Addition or unary plus. A+B adds the values stored in

variables A and B. A and B must have the same size,
unless one is a scalar. A scalar can be added to a matrix
of any size.
- Subtraction or unary minus. A-B subtracts the value of

B from A. A and B must have the same size, unless one
is a scalar. A scalar can be subtracted from a matrix of
any size.
*
Matrix multiplication. C = A*B is the linear algebraic
product of the matrices A and B. More precisely,
For non-scalar A and B, the number of columns of A

must be equal to the number of rows of B. A scalar can
multiply a matrix of any size.
.* Array multiplication. A.*B is the element-by-element

product of the arrays A and B. A and B must have the
same size, unless one of them is a scalar.
/ Slash or matrix right division. B/A is roughly the same

as B*inv(A). More precisely, B/A = (A'\B')'.
./ Array right division. A./B is the matrix with elements
A(i,j)/B(i,j). A and B must have the same size, unless
\ Backslash or matrix left division. If A is a square matrix,

A\B is roughly the same as inv(A)*B, except it is
computed in a different way. If A is an n-by-n matrix
and B is a column vector with n components, or a
matrix with several such columns, then X = A\B is the
solution to the equation AX = B. A warning message is
displayed if A is badly scaled or nearly singular.
.\ Array left division. A.\B is the matrix with elements

B(i,j)/A(i,j). A and B must have the same size, unless
^ Matrix power. X^p is X to the power p, if p is a scalar. If

p is an integer, the power is computed by repeated
squaring. If the integer is negative, X is inverted first.
For other values of p, the calculation involves
eigenvalues and eigenvectors, such that if [V,D] =
eig(X), then X^p = V*D.^p/V.
.^ Array power. A.^B is the matrix with elements A(i,j) to

the B(i,j) power. A and B must have the same size,
unless one of them is a scalar.
' Matrix transpose. A' is the linear algebraic transpose of

A. For complex matrices, this is the complex conjugate
transpose.
.' Array transpose. A.' is the array transpose of A. For

complex matrices, this does not involve conjugation.
Relational operators can also work on both scalar and non-scalar data.
Relational operators for arrays perform element-by-element comparisons
between two arrays and return a logical array of the same size, with
elements set to logical 1 (true) where the relation is true and elements set
to logical 0 (false) where it is not.
The following table shows the relational operators available in MATLAB:
Show Examples
< Less than
<= Less than or equal to
> Greater than
>= Greater than or equal to
== Equal to
~= Not equal to
Logical Operators
MATLAB offers two types of logical operators and functions:
Element-wise These operators operate on corresponding elements of logical

arrays.
Short-circuit These operators operate on scalar and, logical expressions.
Element-wise logical operators operate element-by-element on logical

arrays. The symbols &, |, and ~ are the logical array operators AND, OR,
and NOT.
Short-circuit logical operators allow short-circuiting on logical operations.

The symbols && and || are the logical short-circuit operators AND and OR.
Show Examples
Bitwise Operations
Bitwise operators work on bits and perform bit-by-bit operation. The truth
tables for &, |, and ^ are as follows
p q p&q p|q p^q
0 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 1 1
1 1 1 1 0
1 0 0 1 1
Assume if A = 60; and B = 13; Now in binary format they will be as follows:
A = 0011 1100
B = 0000 1101
-----------------
A&B = 0000 1100
A|B = 0011 1101
A^B = 0011 0001
~A = 1100 0011
MATLAB provides various functions for bit-wise operations like 'bitwise and',
'bitwise or' and 'bitwise not' operations, shift operation, etc.
The following table shows the commonly used bitwise operations:
Show Examples
Function Purpose
bitand(a, b) Bit-wise AND of integers a and b

bitcmp(a) Bit-wise complement of a
bitget(a,pos) Get bit at specified position pos, in the integer

array a
bitor(a, b) Bit-wise OR of integers a and b
bitset(a, pos) Set bit at specific location pos of a
bitshift(a, k) Returns a shifted to the left by k bits, equivalent

to multiplying by 2k. Negative values of k
correspond to shifting bits right or dividing by 2 |k|
and rounding to the nearest integer towards
negative infinite. Any overflow bits are truncated.
bitxor(a, b) Bit-wise XOR of integers a and b
swapbytes Swap byte ordering
Set Operations
MATLAB provides various functions for set operations, like union,
intersection and testing for set membership, etc.
The following table shows some commonly used set operations
Show Examples
Function Description
intersect(A,B) Set intersection of two arrays; returns the

values common to both A and B. The values
returned are in sorted order.
intersect(A,B,'rows') Treats each row of A and each row of B as

single entities and returns the rows common
to both A and B. The rows of the returned
ismember(A,B) Returns an array the same size as A,

containing 1 (true) where the elements of A
are found in B. Elsewhere, it returns 0
(false).
ismember(A,B,'rows') Treats each row of A and each row of B as

single entities and returns a vector
containing 1 (true) where the rows of matrix
A are also rows of B. Elsewhere, it returns 0
(false).
issorted(A) Returns logical 1 (true) if the elements of A

are in sorted order and logical 0 (false)
otherwise. Input A can be a vector or an N-
by-1 or 1-by-N cell array of strings. A is
output of sort(A) are equal.
issorted(A, 'rows') Returns logical 1 (true) if the rows of two-

dimensional matrix A is in sorted order, and
logical 0 (false) otherwise. Matrix A is
output of sortrows(A) are equal.
setdiff(A,B) Sets difference of two arrays; returns the

values in A that are not in B. The values in
the returned array are in sorted order.
setdiff(A,B,'rows')
Treats each row of A and each row of B as
single entities and returns the rows from A
that are not in B. The rows of the returned
The 'rows' option does not support cell

arrays.
setxor Sets exclusive OR of two arrays

union Sets union of two arrays
unique Unique values in array
Decision making structures require that the programmer should specify one
or more conditions to be evaluated or tested by the program, along with a
statement or statements to be executed if the condition is determined to be
true, and optionally, other statements to be executed if the condition is
determined to be false.
Following is the general form of a typical decision making structure found in

most of the programming languages
MATLAB provides following types of decision making statements. Click the

following links to check their detail
Statement Description
An if ... end statement consists
if ... end statement
of a boolean expression followed
by one or more statements.
An if statement can be followed

if...else...end statement
by an optional else statement,
which executes when the boolean
expression is false.
If... An if statement can be followed

by one (or more)
elseif...elseif...else...end optional elseif... and
statements an else statement, which is very
useful to test various conditions.
You can use

nested if statements
one if or elseif statement inside
another if or elseif statement(s).
A switch statement allows a

switch statement
variable to be tested for equality
against a list of values.
You can use

nested switch statements
one switch statement inside
another switch statement(s).
There may be a situation when you need to execute a block of code several
number of times. In general, statements are executed sequentially. The first
statement in a function is executed first, followed by the second, and so on.
Programming languages provide various control structures that allow for

more complicated execution paths.
A loop statement allows us to execute a statement or group of statements

multiple times and following is the general form of a loop statement in most
of the programming languages
MATLAB provides following types of loops to handle looping requirements.
Click the following links to check their detail
Loop Type Description
Repeats a statement or group of statements

while loop
while a given condition is true. It tests the
condition before executing the loop body.
Executes a sequence of statements multiple

for loop
times and abbreviates the code that manages
the loop variable.
You can use one or more loops inside any

nested loops
another loop.
Loop Control Statements

Loop control statements change execution from its normal sequence. When
execution leaves a scope, all automatic objects that were created in that
scope are destroyed.
MATLAB supports the following control statements. Click the following links
to check their detail.
Control Statement Description
Terminates the loop statement and

break statement
transfers execution to the statement
immediately following the loop.
Causes the loop to skip the remainder of its

continue
body and immediately retest its condition
statement prior to reiterating.
A vector is a one-dimensional array of numbers. MATLAB allows creating

two types of vectors
Row vectors
Column vectors
Row Vectors
Row vectors are created by enclosing the set of elements in square
brackets, using space or comma to delimit the elements.
r = [7 8 9 10 11]
r=
7 8 9 10 11
Column Vectors
Column vectors are created by enclosing the set of elements in square
brackets, using semicolon to delimit the elements.
c = [7; 8; 9; 10; 11]
c=
7
8
9
10
11
Referencing the Elements of a Vector

You can reference one or more of the elements of a vector in several ways.
The ith component of a vector v is referred as v(i). For example
v = [ 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6]; % creating a column vector of 6 elements

v(3)
ans = 3
When you reference a vector with a colon, such as v(:), all the components
of the vector are listed.
v = [ 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6]; % creating a column vector of 6 elements

v(:)
ans =
1
2
3
4
5
6
MATLAB allows you to select a range of elements from a vector.
For example, let us create a row vector rv of 9 elements, then we will

reference the elements 3 to 7 by writing rv(3:7) and create a new vector
named sub_rv.
rv = [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9];
sub_rv = rv(3:7)
sub_rv =
3 4 5 6 7
Vector Operations
In this section, let us discuss the following vector operations
Addition and Subtraction of Vectors
Scalar Multiplication of Vectors
Transpose of a Vector
Appending Vectors
Magnitude of a Vector
Vector Dot Product
Vectors with Uniformly Spaced Elements
A matrix is a two-dimensional array of numbers.
In MATLAB, you create a matrix by entering elements in each row as

comma or space delimited numbers and using semicolons to mark the end
of each row.
For example, let us create a 4-by-5 matrix a
a = [ 1 2 3 4 5; 2 3 4 5 6; 3 4 5 6 7; 4 5 6 7 8]
a=
1 2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5 6
3 4 5 6 7
4 5 6 7 8
Referencing the Elements of a Matrix
To reference an element in the mth row and nth column, of a matrix mx, we
write
mx(m, n);
For example, to refer to the element in the 2 nd row and 5thcolumn, of the
matrix a, as created in the last section, we type
a = [ 1 2 3 4 5; 2 3 4 5 6; 3 4 5 6 7; 4 5 6 7 8];
a(2,5)
ans = 6
To reference all the elements in the mth column we type A(:,m).
Let us create a column vector v, from the elements of the 4 th row of the
matrix a:
a = [ 1 2 3 4 5; 2 3 4 5 6; 3 4 5 6 7; 4 5 6 7 8];
v = a(:,4)
v=
4
5
6
7
You can also select the elements in the m th through nth columns, for this we
write
a(:,m:n)
Let us create a smaller matrix taking the elements from the second and
third columns
a = [ 1 2 3 4 5; 2 3 4 5 6; 3 4 5 6 7; 4 5 6 7 8];
a(:, 2:3)
ans =
2 3
3 4
4 5
5 6
In the same way, you can create a sub-matrix taking a sub-part of a matrix.
a = [ 1 2 3 4 5; 2 3 4 5 6; 3 4 5 6 7; 4 5 6 7 8];
a(:, 2:3)
ans =
2 3
3 4
4 5
5 6
In the same way, you can create a sub-matrix taking a sub-part of a matrix.
For example, let us create a sub-matrix sa taking the inner subpart of a:
3 4 5
4 5 6
To do this, write
a = [ 1 2 3 4 5; 2 3 4 5 6; 3 4 5 6 7; 4 5 6 7 8];
sa = a(2:3,2:4)
sa =
3 4 5
4 5 6
Deleting a Row or a Column in a Matrix

You can delete an entire row or column of a matrix by assigning an empty
set of square braces [] to that row or column. Basically, [] denotes an
empty array.
For example, let us delete the fourth row of a
a = [ 1 2 3 4 5; 2 3 4 5 6; 3 4 5 6 7; 4 5 6 7 8];
a( 4 , : ) = []
a=
1 2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5 6
3 4 5 6 7
Next, let us delete the fifth column of a
a = [ 1 2 3 4 5; 2 3 4 5 6; 3 4 5 6 7; 4 5 6 7 8];
a(: , 5)=[]
a=
1 2 3 4
2 3 4 5
3 4 5 6
4 5 6 7
Example
In this example, let us create a 3-by-3 matrix m, then we will copy the
second and third rows of this matrix twice to create a 4-by-3 matrix.

a = [ 1 2 3 ; 4 5 6; 7 8 9];
new_mat = a([2,3,2,3],:)
When you run the file, it displays the following result
new_mat =
4 5 6
7 8 9
4 5 6
7 8 9
Matrix Operations
In this section, let us discuss the following basic and commonly used matrix
operations
Addition and Subtraction of Matrices
Division of Matrices
Scalar Operations of Matrices
Transpose of a Matrix
Concatenating Matrices
Matrix Multiplication
Determinant of a Matrix
Inverse of a Matrix
All variables of all data types in MATLAB are multidimensional arrays. A

vector is a one-dimensional array and a matrix is a two-dimensional array.
We have already discussed vectors and matrices. In this chapter, we will

discuss multidimensional arrays. However, before that, let us discuss some
special types of arrays.
Special Arrays in MATLAB
In this section, we will discuss some functions that create some special
arrays. For all these functions, a single argument creates a square array,
double arguments create rectangular array.
The zeros() function creates an array of all zeros
For example
zeros(5)
ans =
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
The ones() function creates an array of all ones
For example
ones(4,3)
ans =
1 1 1
1 1 1
1 1 1
1 1 1
The eye() function creates an identity matrix.
For example
eye(4)
ans =
1 0 0 0
0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0
0 0 0 1
The rand() function creates an array of uniformly distributed random

numbers on (0,1)
For example
rand(3, 5)
ans =
0.8147 0.9134 0.2785 0.9649 0.9572
0.9058 0.6324 0.5469 0.1576 0.4854
0.1270 0.0975 0.9575 0.9706 0.8003
A Magic Square
A magic square is a square that produces the same sum, when its
elements are added row-wise, column-wise or diagonally.
The magic() function creates a magic square array. It takes a singular

argument that gives the size of the square. The argument must be a scalar
greater than or equal to 3.
magic(4)
ans =
16 2 3 13
5 11 10 8
9 7 6 12
4 14 15 1
Multidimensional Arrays
An array having more than two dimensions is called a multidimensional
array in MATLAB. Multidimensional arrays in MATLAB are an extension of the
normal two-dimensional matrix.
Generally to generate a multidimensional array, we first create a two-

dimensional array and extend it.
For example, let's create a two-dimensional array a.
a = [7 9 5; 6 1 9; 4 3 2]
a=
7 9 5
6 1 9
4 3 2
The array a is a 3-by-3 array; we can add a third dimension to a, by

providing the values like
a(:, :, 2)= [ 1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 9]
a=
ans(:,:,1) =
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
ans(:,:,2) =
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
We can also create multidimensional arrays using the ones(), zeros() or the
rand() functions.
For example,
b = rand(4,3,2)
b(:,:,1) =
0.0344 0.7952 0.6463
0.4387 0.1869 0.7094
0.3816 0.4898 0.7547
0.7655 0.4456 0.2760
b(:,:,2) =
0.6797 0.4984 0.2238
0.6551 0.9597 0.7513
0.1626 0.3404 0.2551
0.1190 0.5853 0.5060
We can also use the cat() function to build multidimensional arrays. It

concatenates a list of arrays along a specified dimension
Syntax for the cat() function is
B = cat(dim, A1, A2...)
Where,
B is the new array created
A1, A2, ... are the arrays to be concatenated
dim is the dimension along which to concatenate the arrays

Example
Create a script file and type the following code into it
a = [9 8 7; 6 5 4; 3 2 1];
b = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 9];
c = cat(3, a, b, [ 2 3 1; 4 7 8; 3 9 0])
When you run the file, it displays
c(:,:,1) =
9 8 7
6 5 4
3 2 1
c(:,:,2) =
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
c(:,:,3) =
2 3 1
4 7 8
3 9 0
Array Functions
MATLAB provides the following functions to sort, rotate, permute, reshape,
or shift array contents.
Function Purpose
length Length of vector or largest array dimension
ndims Number of array dimensions
numel Number of array elements
size Array dimensions
iscolumn Determines whether input is column vector

isempty Determines whether array is empty
ismatrix Determines whether input is matrix
isrow Determines whether input is row vector
isscalar Determines whether input is scalar
isvector Determines whether input is vector
blkdiag Constructs block diagonal matrix from input

arguments
circshift Shifts array circularly
ctranspose Complex conjugate transpose
diag Diagonal matrices and diagonals of matrix
flipdim Flips array along specified dimension
fliplr Flips matrix from left to right
flipud Flips matrix up to down
ipermute Inverses permute dimensions of N-D array
permute Rearranges dimensions of N-D array

repmat Replicates and tile array
reshape Reshapes array
rot90 Rotates matrix 90 degrees
shiftdim Shifts dimensions
issorted Determines whether set elements are in sorted

order
sort Sorts array elements in ascending or descending

order
sortrows Sorts rows in ascending order
squeeze Removes singleton dimensions
transpose Transpose
vectorize Vectorizes expression
Examples
The following examples illustrate some of the functions mentioned above.
Length, Dimension and Number of elements:
x = [7.1, 3.4, 7.2, 28/4, 3.6, 17, 9.4, 8.9];

length(x) % length of x vector
y = rand(3, 4, 5, 2);
ndims(y) % no of dimensions in array y
s = ['Zara', 'Nuha', 'Shamim', 'Riz', 'Shadab'];
numel(s) % no of elements in s
ans = 8
ans = 4
ans = 23
Circular Shifting of the Array Elements
a = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 9] % the original array a

b = circshift(a,1) % circular shift first dimension values down by 1.
c = circshift(a,[1 -1]) % circular shift first dimension values % down by 1
% and second dimension values to the left % by 1.
a=
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
b=
7 8 9
1 2 3
4 5 6
c=
8 9 7
2 3 1
5 6 4
Sorting Arrays
v = [ 23 45 12 9 5 0 19 17] % horizontal vector

sort(v) % sorting v
m = [2 6 4; 5 3 9; 2 0 1] % two dimensional array
sort(m, 1) % sorting m along the row
sort(m, 2) % sorting m along the column
v=
23 45 12 9 5 0 19 17
ans =
0 5 9 12 17 19 23 45
m=
2 6 4
5 3 9
2 0 1
ans =
2 0 1
2 3 4
5 6 9
ans =
2 4 6
3 5 9
0 1 2
Cell Array
Cell arrays are arrays of indexed cells where each cell can store an array of
a different dimensions and data types.
The cell function is used for creating a cell array. Syntax for the cell
function is
C = cell(dim)
C = cell(dim1,...,dimN)
D = cell(obj)
Where,
C is the cell array;
dim is a scalar integer or vector of integers that specifies the dimensions of cell
array C;
dim1, ... , dimN are scalar integers that specify the dimensions of C;
obj is One of the following:
o Java array or object
o .NET array of type System.String or System.Object
Example
c = cell(2, 5);
c = {'Red', 'Blue', 'Green', 'Yellow', 'White'; 1 2 3 4 5}
c=
{
[1,1] = Red
[2,1] = 1
[1,2] = Blue
[2,2] = 2
[1,3] = Green
[2,3] = 3
[1,4] = Yellow
[2,4] = 4
[1,5] = White
[2,5] = 5
}
Accessing Data in Cell Arrays

There are two ways to refer to the elements of a cell array
Enclosing the indices in first bracket (), to refer to sets of cells
Enclosing the indices in braces {}, to refer to the data within individual cells
When you enclose the indices in first bracket, it refers to the set of cells.
Cell array indices in smooth parentheses refer to sets of cells.
For example:
c = {'Red', 'Blue', 'Green', 'Yellow', 'White'; 1 2 3 4 5};
c(1:2,1:2)
ans =
{
[1,1] = Red
[2,1] = 1
[1,2] = Blue
[2,2] = 2
}
You can also access the contents of cells by indexing with curly braces.
For example
c = {'Red', 'Blue', 'Green', 'Yellow', 'White'; 1 2 3 4 5};

c{1, 2:4}
ans = Blue
ans = Green
ans = Yellow
The colon(:) is one of the most useful operator in MATLAB. It is used to

create vectors, subscript arrays, and specify for iterations.
If you want to create a row vector, containing integers from 1 to 10, you
write
1:10
MATLAB executes the statement and returns a row vector containing the
integers from 1 to 10
ans =
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
If you want to specify an increment value other than one, for example
100: -5: 50
MATLAB executes the statement and returns the following result
ans =
100 95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50
Let us take another example
0:pi/8:pi
MATLAB executes the statement and returns the following result
ans =
Columns 1 through 7
0 0.3927 0.7854 1.1781 1.5708 1.9635 2.3562
Columns 8 through 9
2.7489 3.1416
You can use the colon operator to create a vector of indices to select rows,
columns or elements of arrays.
The following table describes its use for this purpose (let us have a matrix
A)
Format Purpose
A(:,j) is the jth column of A.
A(i,:) is the ith row of A.
A(:,:) is the equivalent two-dimensional array. For matrices

this is the same as A.
A(j:k) is A(j), A(j+1),...,A(k).
A(:,j:k) is A(:,j), A(:,j+1),...,A(:,k).

A(:,:,k) is the kth page of three-dimensional array A.
A(i,j,k,:) is a vector in four-dimensional array A. The vector

includes A(i,j,k,1), A(i,j,k,2), A(i,j,k,3), and so on.
A(:) is all the elements of A, regarded as a single column.

On the left side of an assignment statement, A(:) fills A,
preserving its shape from before. In this case, the right
side must contain the same number of elements as A.
Example
Create a script file and type the following code in it
A = [1 2 3 4; 4 5 6 7; 7 8 9 10]
A(:,2) % second column of A
A(:,2:3) % second and third column of A
A(2:3,2:3) % second and third rows and second and third columns
A=
1 2 3 4
4 5 6 7
7 8 9 10
ans =
2
5
8
ans =
2 3
5 6
8 9
ans =
5 6
8 9
MATLAB supports various numeric classes that include signed and unsigned
integers and single-precision and double-precision floating-point numbers.
By default, MATLAB stores all numeric values as double-precision floating
point numbers.
You can choose to store any number or array of numbers as integers or as
single-precision numbers.
All numeric types support basic array operations and mathematical

operations.
Conversion to Various Numeric Data Types

MATLAB provides the following functions to convert to various numeric data
types
Function Purpose
double Converts to double precision number
single Converts to single precision number
int8 Converts to 8-bit signed integer
uint8 Converts to 8-bit unsigned integer

Example
Create a script file and type the following code
x = single([5.32 3.47 6.28]) .* 7.5

x = double([5.32 3.47 6.28]) .* 7.5
x = int8([5.32 3.47 6.28]) .* 7.5
x = int16([5.32 3.47 6.28]) .* 7.5
x = int32([5.32 3.47 6.28]) .* 7.5
x = int64([5.32 3.47 6.28]) .* 7.5
When you run the file, it shows the following result
x=
39.900 26.025 47.100
x=
39.900 26.025 47.100
x=
38 23 45
x=
38 23 45
x=
38 23 45
x=
38 23 45
Example
Let us extend the previous example a little more. Create a script file and
type the following code
x = int32([5.32 3.47 6.28]) .* 7.5

x = int64([5.32 3.47 6.28]) .* 7.5
x = num2cell(x)
x=
38 23 45
x=
38 23 45
x=
{
[1,1] = 38
[1,2] = 23
[1,3] = 45
}
Smallest and Largest Integers

The functions intmax() and intmin() return the maximum and minimum
values that can be represented with all types of integer numbers.
Both the functions take the integer data type as the argument, for example,
intmax(int8) or intmin(int64) and return the maximum and minimum values
that you can represent with the integer data type.
Example
The following example illustrates how to obtain the smallest and largest
values of integers. Create a script file and write the following code in it
% displaying the smallest and largest signed integer data

str = 'The range for int8 is:\n\t%d to %d ';
sprintf(str, intmin('int8'), intmax('int8'))
% displaying the smallest and largest unsigned integer data
str = 'The range for uint8 is:\n\t%d to %d ';
sprintf(str, intmin('uint8'), intmax('uint8'))
ans = The range for int8 is:

-128 to 127
-32768 to 32767
-2147483648 to 2147483647
0 to 0
ans = The range for uint8 is:
0 to 255
0 to 65535
0 to -1
0 to 18446744073709551616
Smallest and Largest Floating Point Numbers

The functions realmax() and realmin() return the maximum and
minimum values that can be represented with floating point numbers.
Both the functions when called with the argument 'single', return the
maximum and minimum values that you can represent with the single-
precision data type and when called with the argument 'double', return the
maximum and minimum values that you can represent with the double-
precision data type.
Example
The following example illustrates how to obtain the smallest and largest
floating point numbers. Create a script file and write the following code in it
% displaying the smallest and largest single-precision

% floating point number
str = 'The range for single is:\n\t%g to %g and\n\t %g to %g';
sprintf(str, -realmax('single'), -realmin('single'), ...
realmin('single'), realmax('single'))
% displaying the smallest and largest double-precision
% floating point number
str = 'The range for double is:\n\t%g to %g and\n\t %g to %g';
sprintf(str, -realmax('double'), -realmin('double'), ...
realmin('double'), realmax('double'))
ans = The range for single is:

-3.40282e+38 to -1.17549e-38 and
1.17549e-38 to 3.40282e+38
ans = The range for double is:
-1.79769e+308 to -2.22507e-308 and
2.22507e-308 to 1.79769e+308
Creating a character string is quite simple in MATLAB. In fact, we have used

it many times. For example, you type the following in the command prompt
my_string = 'Tutorials Point'
my_string = Tutorials Point

MATLAB considers all variables as arrays, and strings are considered as
character arrays. Let us use the whos command to check the variable
created above
whos
Name Size Bytes Class Attributes

my_string 1x16 32 char
Interestingly, you can use numeric conversion functions

like uint8 or uint16 to convert the characters in the string to their numeric
codes. The char function converts the integer vector back to characters
Example
my_string = 'Tutorial''s Point';

str_ascii = uint8(my_string) % 8-bit ascii values
str_back_to_char= char(str_ascii)
str_16bit = uint16(my_string) % 16-bit ascii values
str_back_to_char = char(str_16bit)
str_ascii =
84 117 116 111 114 105 97 108 39 115 32 80 111 105 110 116
str_back_to_char = Tutorial's Point

str_16bit =
84 117 116 111 114 105 97 108 39 115 32 80 111 105 110 116
str_back_to_char = Tutorial's Point
Rectangular Character Array

The strings we have discussed so far are one-dimensional character arrays;
however, we need to store more than that. We need to store more
dimensional textual data in our program. This is achieved by creating
rectangular character arrays.
Simplest way of creating a rectangular character array is by concatenating

two or more one-dimensional character arrays, either vertically or
horizontally as required.
You can combine strings vertically in either of the following ways
Using the MATLAB concatenation operator [] and separating each row with a
semicolon (;). Please note that in this method each row must contain the same
number of characters. For strings with different lengths, you should pad with
space characters as needed.
Using the char function. If the strings are of different lengths, char pads the
shorter strings with trailing blanks so that each row has the same number of
characters.
Example
doc_profile = ['Zara Ali '; ...

'Sr. Surgeon '; ...
'R N Tagore Cardiology Research Center']
doc_profile = char('Zara Ali', 'Sr. Surgeon', ...
'RN Tagore Cardiology Research Center')
doc_profile =
Zara Ali
Sr. Surgeon
R N Tagore Cardiology Research Center
doc_profile =
Zara Ali
Sr. Surgeon
RN Tagore Cardiology Research Center
You can combine strings horizontally in either of the following ways
Using the MATLAB concatenation operator, [] and separating the input strings
with a comma or a space. This method preserves any trailing spaces in the
input arrays.
Using the string concatenation function, strcat. This method removes trailing
spaces in the inputs.
Example
name = 'Zara Ali ';

position = 'Sr. Surgeon ';
worksAt = 'R N Tagore Cardiology Research Center';
profile = [name ', ' position ', ' worksAt]
profile = strcat(name, ', ', position, ', ', worksAt)
profile = Zara Ali , Sr. Surgeon , R N Tagore Cardiology Research

Center
profile = Zara Ali,Sr. Surgeon,R N Tagore Cardiology Research Center
Combining Strings into a Cell Array

From our previous discussion, it is clear that combining strings with
different lengths could be a pain as all strings in the array has to be of the
same length. We have used blank spaces at the end of strings to equalize
their length.
However, a more efficient way to combine the strings is to convert the

resulting array into a cell array.
MATLAB cell array can hold different sizes and types of data in an array. Cell
arrays provide a more flexible way to store strings of varying length.
The cellstr function converts a character array into a cell array of strings.
Example
name = 'Zara Ali ';

position = 'Sr. Surgeon ';
worksAt = 'R N Tagore Cardiology Research Center';
profile = char(name, position, worksAt);
profile = cellstr(profile);
disp(profile)
{
[1,1] = Zara Ali
[2,1] = Sr. Surgeon
[3,1] = R N Tagore Cardiology Research Center
}
String Functions in MATLAB

MATLAB provides numerous string functions creating, combining, parsing,
comparing and manipulating strings.
Following table provides brief description of the string functions in MATLAB
Function Purpose
Functions for storing text in character arrays, combine

character arrays, etc.
blanks Create string of blank characters
cellstr Create cell array of strings from character

array
char Convert to character array (string)
iscellstr Determine whether input is cell array of

strings
sprintf Format data into string
strcat Concatenate strings horizontally
strjoin Join strings in cell array into single string
Functions for identifying parts of strings, find and replace

substrings
isletter Array elements that are alphabetic letters
isspace Array elements that are space characters
isstrprop Determine whether string is of specified

category
sscanf Read formatted data from string
strfind Find one string within another
strrep Find and replace substring

strsplit Split string at specified delimiter
strtok Selected parts of string
validatestring Check validity of text string
symvar Determine symbolic variables in expression
regexp Match regular expression (case sensitive)
regexpi Match regular expression (case insensitive)
regexprep Replace string using regular expression
regexptranslate Translate string into regular expression
Functions for string comparison
strcmp Compare strings (case sensitive)
strcmpi Compare strings (case insensitive)
strncmp Compare first n characters of strings (case

sensitive)
strncmpi Compare first n characters of strings (case

insensitive)
Functions for changing string to upper- or lowercase,

creating or removing white space
deblank Strip trailing blanks from end of string
strtrim Remove leading and trailing white space

from string
lower Convert string to lowercase
upper Convert string to uppercase
strjust Justify character array
Examples
The following examples illustrate some of the above-mentioned string

functions
FORMATTING STRINGS
A = pi*1000*ones(1,5);
sprintf(' %f \n %.2f \n %+.2f \n %12.2f \n %012.2f \n', A)
ans = 3141.592654
3141.59
+3141.59
3141.59
000003141.59
JOINING STRINGS
%cell array of strings

str_array = {'red','blue','green', 'yellow', 'orange'};
% Join strings in cell array into single string

str1 = strjoin(str_array, "-")
str2 = strjoin(str_array, ",")
str1 = red-blue-green-yellow-orange
str2 = red,blue,green,yellow,orange
FINDING AND REPLACING STRINGS
students = {'Zara Ali', 'Neha Bhatnagar', ...

'Monica Malik', 'Madhu Gautam', ...
'Madhu Sharma', 'Bhawna Sharma',...
'Nuha Ali', 'Reva Dutta', ...
'Sunaina Ali', 'Sofia Kabir'};
% The strrep function searches and replaces sub-string.

new_student = strrep(students(8), 'Reva', 'Poulomi')
% Display first names
first_names = strtok(students)
new_student =
{
[1,1] = Poulomi Dutta
}
first_names =
{
[1,1] = Zara
[1,2] = Neha
[1,3] = Monica
[1,4] = Madhu
[1,5] = Madhu
[1,6] = Bhawna
[1,7] = Nuha
[1,8] = Reva
[1,9] = Sunaina
[1,10] = Sofia
}
COMPARING STRINGS
str1 = 'This is test'

str2 = 'This is text'
if (strcmp(str1, str2))
sprintf('%s and %s are equal', str1, str2)
else
sprintf('%s and %s are not equal', str1, str2)
end
str1 = This is test

str2 = This is text
ans = This is test and This is text are not equal
A function is a group of statements that together perform a task. In

MATLAB, functions are defined in separate files. The name of the file and of
the function should be the same.
Functions operate on variables within their own workspace, which is also

called the local workspace, separate from the workspace you access at
the MATLAB command prompt which is called the base workspace.
Functions can accept more than one input arguments and may return more
than one output arguments.
Syntax of a function statement is
function [out1,out2, ..., outN] = myfun(in1,in2,in3, ..., inN)
Example
The following function named mymax should be written in a file
named mymax.m. It takes five numbers as argument and returns the
maximum of the numbers.
Create a function file, named mymax.m and type the following code in it
function max = mymax(n1, n2, n3, n4, n5)

%This function calculates the maximum of the
% five numbers given as input
max = n1;
if(n2 > max)
max = n2;
end
if(n3 > max)
max = n3;
end
if(n4 > max)
max = n4;
end
if(n5 > max)
max = n5;
end
The first line of a function starts with the keyword function. It gives the
name of the function and order of arguments. In our example,
the mymax function has five input arguments and one output argument.
The comment lines that come right after the function statement provide the
help text. These lines are printed when you type
help mymax
This function calculates the maximum of the

five numbers given as input
You can call the function as
mymax(34, 78, 89, 23, 11)
ans = 89
Anonymous Functions
An anonymous function is like an inline function in traditional programming
languages, defined within a single MATLAB statement. It consists of a single
MATLAB expression and any number of input and output arguments.
You can define an anonymous function right at the MATLAB command line
or within a function or script.
This way you can create simple functions without having to create a file for
them.
The syntax for creating an anonymous function from an expression is
f = @(arglist)expression
Example
In this example, we will write an anonymous function named power, which

will take two numbers as input and return first number raised to the power
of the second number.
power = @(x, n) x.^n;

result1 = power(7, 3)
result2 = power(49, 0.5)
result3 = power(10, -10)
result4 = power (4.5, 1.5)
When you run the file, it displays
result1 = 343
result2 = 7
result3 = 1.0000e-10
result4 = 9.5459
Primary and Sub-Functions

Any function other than an anonymous function must be defined within a
file. Each function file contains a required primary function that appears first
and any number of optional sub-functions that comes after the primary
function and used by it.
Primary functions can be called from outside of the file that defines them,
either from command line or from other functions, but sub-functions cannot
be called from command line or other functions, outside the function file.
Sub-functions are visible only to the primary function and other sub-
functions within the function file that defines them.
Example
Let us write a function named quadratic that would calculate the roots of a
quadratic equation. The function would take three inputs, the quadratic co-
efficient, the linear co-efficient and the constant term. It would return the
roots.
The function file quadratic.m will contain the primary function quadratic and
the sub-function disc, which calculates the discriminant.
Create a function file quadratic.m and type the following code in it
function [x1,x2] = quadratic(a,b,c)

%this function returns the roots of
% a quadratic equation.
% It takes 3 input arguments
% which are the co-efficients of x2, x and the
%constant term
% It returns the roots
d = disc(a,b,c);
x1 = (-b + d) / (2*a);
x2 = (-b - d) / (2*a);
end % end of quadratic
function dis = disc(a,b,c)

%function calculates the discriminant
dis = sqrt(b^2 - 4*a*c);
end % end of sub-function
You can call the above function from command prompt as
quadratic(2,4,-4)
ans = 0.7321
Nested Functions
You can define functions within the body of another function. These are
called nested functions. A nested function contains any or all of the
components of any other function.
Nested functions are defined within the scope of another function and they
share access to the containing function's workspace.
A nested function follows the following syntax
function x = A(p1, p2)

...
B(p2)
function y = B(p3)
...
end
...
end
Example
Let us rewrite the function quadratic, from previous example, however, this
time the disc function will be a nested function.
Create a function file quadratic2.m and type the following code in it
function [x1,x2] = quadratic2(a,b,c)

function disc % nested function
d = sqrt(b^2 - 4*a*c);
end % end of function disc
disc;
x1 = (-b + d) / (2*a);
x2 = (-b - d) / (2*a);
end % end of function quadratic2
quadratic2(2,4,-4)
ans = 0.73205
Private Functions
A private function is a primary function that is visible only to a limited group
of other functions. If you do not want to expose the implementation of a
function(s), you can create them as private functions.
Private functions reside in subfolders with the special name private.
They are visible only to functions in the parent folder.
Example
Let us rewrite the quadratic function. This time, however, the disc function
calculating the discriminant, will be a private function.
Create a subfolder named private in working directory. Store the following

function file disc.m in it
function dis = disc(a,b,c)

%function calculates the discriminant
dis = sqrt(b^2 - 4*a*c);
end % end of sub-function
Create a function quadratic3.m in your working directory and type the

following code in it
function [x1,x2] = quadratic3(a,b,c)

%this function returns the roots of
% a quadratic equation.
% It takes 3 input arguments
% which are the co-efficient of x2, x and the
%constant term
% It returns the roots
d = disc(a,b,c);
x1 = (-b + d) / (2*a);
x2 = (-b - d) / (2*a);
end % end of quadratic3
quadratic3(2,4,-4)
ans = 0.73205
Global Variables
Global variables can be shared by more than one function. For this, you
need to declare the variable as global in all the functions.
If you want to access that variable from the base workspace, then declare
the variable at the command line.
The global declaration must occur before the variable is actually used in a
function. It is a good practice to use capital letters for the names of global
variables to distinguish them from other variables.
Example
Let us create a function file named average.m and type the following code
in it
function avg = average(nums)

global TOTAL
avg = sum(nums)/TOTAL;
end
global TOTAL;
TOTAL = 10;
n = [34, 45, 25, 45, 33, 19, 40, 34, 38, 42];
av = average(n)
When you run the file, it will display the following result
av = 35.500

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Local Environment Setup

MathWorks provides the licensed product, a trial version and a student

The desktop has the following panels

MATLAB environment behaves like a super-complex calculator. You can

MATLAB is an interpreted environment. In other words, you give a

And press ENTER

Let us take up few more examples

3^2 % 3 raised to the power of 2

sin(pi /2) % sine of angle 90o

7/0 % Divide by zero

MATLAB provides some special expressions for some mathematical symbols,

Use of Semicolon (;) in MATLAB

x=9 % assign the value 9 to x

Commonly used Operators and Special

- Minus; subtraction operator.

* Scalar and matrix multiplication operator.

.* Array multiplication operator.

^ Scalar and matrix exponentiation operator.

.^ Array exponentiation operator.

.\ Array left-division operator.

./ Array right-division operator.

: Colon; generates regularly spaced elements and

() Parentheses; encloses function arguments and

[] Brackets; enclosures array elements.

Ellipsis; line-continuation operator

; Semicolon; separates columns and suppresses

% Percent sign; designates a comment and specifies

_ Quote sign and transpose operator.

._ Nonconjugated transpose operator.

Special Variables and Constants

ans Most recent answer.

eps Accuracy of floating-point precision.

i,j The imaginary unit -1.

NaN Undefined numerical result (not a number).

Saving Your Work

In MATLAB environment, every variable is an array or matrix.

You can assign variables in a simple way. For example,

x=3 % defining x and initializing it with a value

x = sqrt(16) % defining x and initializing it with an expression

Please note that

Variables must have values before they are used.

You can use this variable ans

Let's look at another example

I have forgotten the Variables!

Your variables are:

The whos command displays little more about the variables

Variables currently in memory

Type of each variables

Memory allocated to each variable

Whether they are complex variables or not

Attr Name Size Bytes Class

Total is 73 elements using 781 bytes

clear x % it will delete x, won't display anything

The format Command

However, if you want more precision, you need to use

The format long command displays 16 digits after decimal.

MATLAB displays large numbers using exponential notation.

The format short e command allows displaying in exponential form with

The format long e command allows displaying in exponential form with