Matrices and Arrays - MATLAB & Simulink PDF
Matrices and Arrays - MATLAB & Simulink PDF
Matrices and Arrays - MATLAB & Simulink PDF
All MATLAB variables are multidimensional , no matter what type of data. A is a two-dimensional array
often used for linear algebra.
To create an array with four elements in a single row, separate the elements with either a comma (,) or a space.
a = [1 2 3 4]
a =
1 2 3 4
To create a matrix that has multiple rows, separate the rows with semicolons.
a = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 10]
a =
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 10
Another way to create a matrix is to use a function, such as ones, zeros, or rand. For example, create a 5-by-1
column vector of zeros.
z = zeros(5,1)
z =
0
0
0
0
0
MATLAB allows you to process all of the values in a matrix using a single arithmetic operator or function.
a + 10
ans =
11 12 13
14 15 16
17 18 20
sin(a)
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14.11.2016 Matrices and Arrays - MATLAB & Simulink
ans =
a'
ans =
1 4 7
2 5 8
3 6 10
You can perform standard matrix multiplication, which computes the inner products between rows and columns, using
the * operator. For example, confirm that a matrix times its inverse returns the identity matrix:
p = a*inv(a)
p =
1.0000 0 -0.0000
0 1.0000 0
0 0 1.0000
Notice that p is not a matrix of integer values. MATLAB stores numbers as floating-point values, and arithmetic
operations are sensitive to small differences between the actual value and its floating-point representation. You can
display more decimal digits using the format command:
format long
p = a*inv(a)
p =
1.000000000000000 0 -0.000000000000000
0 1.000000000000000 0
0 0 0.999999999999998
format short
format affects only the display of numbers, not the way MATLAB computes or saves them.
To perform element-wise multiplication rather than matrix multiplication, use the .* operator:
p = a.*a
p =
1 4 9
16 25 36
49 64 100
The matrix operators for multiplication, division, and power each have a corresponding array operator that operates
element-wise. For example, raise each element of a to the third power:
a.^3
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