Chapter 3

Array operations and Linear

equations

3.1 Array operations

MATLAB has two different types of arithmetic operations: matrix arithmetic operations
and array arithmetic operations. We have seen matrix arithmetic operations in the previous
lab. Now, we are interested in array operations.

3.1.1 Matrix arithmetic operations

As we mentioned earlier, MATLAB allows arithmetic operations: +, −, ∗, and ˆ to be
carried out on matrices. Thus,

A+B or B+A is valid if A and B are of the same size

A*B is valid if A’s number of column equals B’s number of rows
A^2 is valid if A is square and equals A*A
α*A or A*α multiplies each element of A by α

3.1.2 Array arithmetic operations

On the other hand, array arithmetic operations or array operations for short, are done
element-by-element. The period character, ., distinguishes the array operations from the
matrix operations. However, since the matrix and array operations are the same for addition
(+) and subtraction (−), the character pairs (.+) and (.−) are not used. The list of array
operators is shown below in Table 3.2. If A and B are two matrices of the same size with
elements A = [aij ] and B = [bij ], then the command

30
 .* Element-by-element multiplication
./ Element-by-element division
.^ Element-by-element exponentiation

Table 3.1: Array operators

>> C = A.*B

produces another matrix C of the same size with elements cij = aij bij . For example, using
the same 3 × 3 matrices,
   
1 2 3 10 20 30

A= 4 5 6 ,  
B = 40 50 60 
7 8 9 70 80 90

we have,

>> C = A.*B
C =
10 40 90
160 250 360
490 640 810

To raise a scalar to a power, we use for example the command 10^2. If we want the
operation to be applied to each element of a matrix, we use .^2. For example, if we want
to produce a new matrix whose elements are the square of the elements of the matrix A, we
enter

>> A.^2
ans =
1 4 9
16 25 36
49 64 81

The relations below summarize the above operations. To simplify, let’s consider two
vectors U and V with elements U = [ui ] and V = [vj ].

U. ∗ V produces [u1 v1 u2 v2 . . . un vn ]
U./V produces [u1 /v1 u2 /v2 . . . un /vn ]
U.ˆV produces [uv11 uv22 . . . uvnn ]

31
 Operation Matrix Array

Addition + +
Subtraction − −
Multiplication ∗ .∗
Division / ./
Left division \ .\
Exponentiation ˆ .ˆ

Table 3.2: Summary of matrix and array operations

3.2 Solving linear equations

One of the problems encountered most frequently in scientific computation is the solution of
systems of simultaneous linear equations. With matrix notation, a system of simultaneous
linear equations is written
Ax = b (3.1)
where there are as many equations as unknown. A is a given square matrix of order n, b is a
given column vector of n components, and x is an unknown column vector of n components.
In linear algebra we learn that the solution to Ax = b can be written as x = A−1 b, where
A−1 is the inverse of A.
For example, consider the following system of linear equations

 x + 2y + 3z = 1
4x + 5y + 6z = 1

7x + 8y = 1
The coefficient matrix A is
   
1 2 3 1
A= 4 5 6  and the vector b =  1 
7 8 9 1

With matrix notation, a system of simultaneous linear equations is written

Ax = b (3.2)

This equation can be solved for x using linear algebra. The result is x = A−1 b.
There are typically two ways to solve for x in MATLAB:

1. The first one is to use the matrix inverse, inv.

32
 >> A = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 0];
>> b = [1; 1; 1];
>> x = inv(A)*b
x =
-1.0000
1.0000
-0.0000

2. The second one is to use the backslash (\)operator. The numerical algorithm behind
this operator is computationally efficient. This is a numerically reliable way of solving
system of linear equations by using a well-known process of Gaussian elimination.

>> A = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 0];
>> b = [1; 1; 1];
>> x = A\b
x =
-1.0000
1.0000
-0.0000

This problem is at the heart of many problems in scientific computation. Hence it is impor-
tant that we know how to solve this type of problem efficiently.
Now, we know how to solve a system of linear equations. In addition to this, we will
see some additional details which relate to this particular topic.

3.2.1 Matrix inverse

Let’s consider the same matrix A.
 
1 2 3
A= 4 5 6 
7 8 0

Calculating the inverse of A manually is probably not a pleasant work. Here the hand-
calculation of A−1 gives as a final result:
 
−16 8 −1
1
A−1 =  14 −7 2 
9
−1 2 −1

In MATLAB, however, it becomes as simple as the following commands:

33
 >> A = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 0];
>> inv(A)
ans =
-1.7778 0.8889 -0.1111
1.5556 -0.7778 0.2222
-0.1111 0.2222 -0.1111

which is similar to:  

−16 8 −1
1
A−1 =  14 −7 2 
9
−1 2 −1
and the determinant of A is

>> det(A)
ans =
27

For further details on applied numerical linear algebra, see [10] and [11].

3.2.2 Matrix functions

MATLAB provides many matrix functions for various matrix/vector manipulations; see
Table 3.3 for some of these functions. Use the online help of MATLAB to find how to use
these functions.

det Determinant
diag Diagonal matrices and diagonals of a matrix
eig Eigenvalues and eigenvectors
inv Matrix inverse
norm Matrix and vector norms
rank Number of linearly independent rows or columns

Table 3.3: Matrix functions

3.3 Exercises
Note: Due to the teaching class during this Fall Quarter 2005, the problems are temporarily
removed from this section.

34
Chapter 4

Introduction to programming in
MATLAB

4.1 Introduction
So far in these lab sessions, all the commands were executed in the Command Window.
The problem is that the commands entered in the Command Window cannot be saved
and executed again for several times. Therefore, a different way of executing repeatedly
commands with MATLAB is:

1. to create a file with a list of commands,

2. save the file, and
3. run the file.

If needed, corrections or changes can be made to the commands in the file. The files that
are used for this purpose are called script files or scripts for short.
This section covers the following topics:

• M-File Scripts
• M-File Functions

4.2 M-File Scripts

A script file is an external file that contains a sequence of MATLAB statements. Script
files have a filename extension .m and are often called M-files. M-files can be scripts that
simply execute a series of MATLAB statements, or they can be functions that can accept
arguments and can produce one or more outputs.

35
4.2.1 Examples
Here are two simple scripts.

Example 1

Consider the system of equations:


 x + 2y + 3z = 1
3x + 3y + 4z = 1

2x + 3y + 3z = 2

Find the solution x to the system of equations.

Solution:

• Use the MATLAB editor to create a file: File → New → M-file.

• Enter the following statements in the file:

A = [1 2 3; 3 3 4; 2 3 3];
b = [1; 1; 2];
x = A\b

• Save the file, for example, example1.m.

• Run the file, in the command line, by typing:

>> example1
x =
-0.5000
1.5000
-0.5000

When execution completes, the variables (A, b, and x) remain in the workspace. To see a
listing of them, enter whos at the command prompt.
Note: The MATLAB editor is both a text editor specialized for creating M-files and a
graphical MATLAB debugger. The MATLAB editor has numerous menus for tasks such as
saving, viewing, and debugging. Because it performs some simple checks and also uses color
to differentiate between various elements of codes, this text editor is recommended as the
tool of choice for writing and editing M-files.
There is another way to open the editor:

36
 >> edit

or

>> edit filename.m

to open filename.m.

Example 2

Plot the following cosine functions, y1 = 2 cos(x), y2 = cos(x), and y3 = 0.5 ∗ cos(x), in the
interval 0 ≤ x ≤ 2π. This example has been presented in previous Chapter. Here we put
the commands in a file.

• Create a file, say example2.m, which contains the following commands:

x = 0:pi/100:2*pi;
y1 = 2*cos(x);
y2 = cos(x);
y3 = 0.5*cos(x);
plot(x,y1,’--’,x,y2,’-’,x,y3,’:’)
xlabel(’0 \leq x \leq 2\pi’)
ylabel(’Cosine functions’)
legend(’2*cos(x)’,’cos(x)’,’0.5*cos(x)’)
title(’Typical example of multiple plots’)
axis([0 2*pi -3 3])

• Run the file by typing example2 in the Command Window.

4.2.2 Script side-effects

All variables created in a script file are added to the workspace. This may have undesirable
effects, because:

• Variables already existing in the workspace may be overwritten.

• The execution of the script can be affected by the state variables in the workspace.

As a result, because scripts have some undesirable side-effects, it is better to code any
complicated applications using rather function M-file.

37
4.3 M-File functions
As mentioned earlier, functions are programs (or routines) that accept input arguments and
return output arguments. Each M-file function (or function or M-file for short) has its own
area of workspace, separated from the MATLAB base workspace.

4.3.1 Anatomy of a M-File function

This simple function shows the basic parts of an M-file.

function f = factorial(n) (1)

% FACTORIAL(N) returns the factorial of N. (2)
% Compute a factorial value. (3)

f = prod(1:n); (4)

The first line of a function M-file starts with the keyword function. It gives the function
name and order of arguments. In the case of function factorial, there are up to one output
argument and one input argument. Table 4.1 summarizes the M-file function.
As an example, for n = 5, the result is,

>> f = factorial(5)
f =
120

Table 4.1: Anatomy of a M-File function

Part no. M-file element Description

(1) Function Define the function name, and the
definition number and order of input and
line output arguments
(2) H1 line A one line summary description
of the program, displayed when you
request Help
(3) Help text A more detailed description of
the program
(4) Function body Program code that performs
the actual computations

Both functions and scripts can have all of these parts, except for the function definition
line which applies to function only.

38
 In addition, it is important to note that function name must begin with a letter, and
must be no longer than than the maximum of 63 characters. Furthermore, the name of the
text file that you save will consist of the function name with the extension .m. Thus, the
above example file would be factorial.m.
Table 4.2 summarizes the differences between scripts and functions.

Table 4.2: Difference between scripts and functions

Scripts Functions
- Do not accept input - Can accept input arguments and
arguments or return output return output arguments.
arguments.
- Store variables in a - Store variables in a workspace
workspace that is shared internal to the function.
with other scripts
- Are useful for automating - Are useful for extending the MATLAB
a series of commands language for your application

39
4.3.2 Input and output arguments
As mentioned above, the input arguments are listed inside parentheses following the function
name. The output arguments are listed inside the brackets on the left side. They are used
to transfer the output from the function file. The general form looks like this

function [outputs] = function_name(inputs)

Function file can have none, one, or several output arguments. Table 4.3 illustrates some
possible combinations of input and output arguments.

Table 4.3: Example of input and output arguments

function C=FtoC(F) One input argument and

one output argument
function area=TrapArea(a,b,h) Three inputs and one output
function [h,d]=motion(v,angle) Two inputs and two outputs

4.4 Input to a script file

When a script file is executed, the variables that are used in the calculations within the file
must have assigned values. The assignment of a value to a variable can be done in three
ways.

1. The variable is defined in the script file.

2. The variable is defined in the command prompt.

3. The variable is entered when the script is executed.

We have already seen the two first cases. Here, we will focus our attention on the third one.
In this case, the variable is defined in the script file. When the file is executed, the user is
prompted to assign a value to the variable in the command prompt. This is done by using
the input command. Here is an example.

% This script file calculates the average of points

% scored in three games.
% The point from each game are assigned to a variable
% by using the ‘input’ command.

game1 = input(’Enter the points scored in the first game ’);

40
 game2 = input(’Enter the points scored in the second game ’);
game3 = input(’Enter the points scored in the third game ’);
average = (game1+game2+game3)/3

The following shows the command prompt when this script file (saved as example3) is
executed.

>> example3
>> Enter the points scored in the first game 15
>> Enter the points scored in the second game 23
>> Enter the points scored in the third game 10

average =
16

The input command can also be used to assign string to a variable. For more information,
see MATLAB documentation.
A typical example of M-file function programming can be found in a recent paper which
related to the solution of the ordinary differential equation (ODE) [12].

4.5 Output commands

As discussed before, MATLAB automatically generates a display when commands are exe-
cuted. In addition to this automatic display, MATLAB has several commands that can be
used to generate displays or outputs.
Two commands that are frequently used to generate output are: disp and fprintf.
The main differences between these two commands can be summarized as follows (Table
4.4).

Table 4.4: disp and fprintf commands

disp . Simple to use.

. Provide limited control over the appearance of output

fprintf . Slightly more complicated than disp.

. Provide total control over the appearance of output

41
4.6 Exercises
1. Liz buys three apples, a dozen bananas, and one cantaloupe for $2.36. Bob buys a dozen
apples and two cantaloupe for $5.26. Carol buys two bananas and three cantaloupe
for $2.77. How much do single pieces of each fruit cost?

2. Write a function file that converts temperature in degrees Fahrenheit (◦ F) to degrees

Centigrade (◦ C). Use input and fprintf commands to display a mix of text and
numbers. Recall the conversion formulation, C = 5/9 ∗ (F − 32).

3. Write a user-defined MATLAB function, with two input and two output arguments
that determines the height in centimeters (cm) and mass in kilograms (kg)of a person
from his height in inches (in.) and weight in pounds (lb).

(a) Determine in SI units the height and mass of a 5 ft.15 in. person who weight 180
lb.
(b) Determine your own height and weight in SI units.

42
Chapter 5

Control flow and operators

5.1 Introduction
MATLAB is also a programming language. Like other computer programming languages,
MATLAB has some decision making structures for control of command execution. These
decision making or control flow structures include for loops, while loops, and if-else-end
constructions. Control flow structures are often used in script M-files and function M-files.
By creating a file with the extension .m, we can easily write and run programs. We
do not need to compile the program since MATLAB is an interpretative (not compiled)
language. MATLAB has thousand of functions, and you can add your own using m-files.
MATLAB provides several tools that can be used to control the flow of a program
(script or function). In a simple program as shown in the previous Chapter, the commands
are executed one after the other. Here we introduce the flow control structure that make
possible to skip commands or to execute specific group of commands.

5.2 Control flow

MATLAB has four control flow structures: the if statement, the for loop, the while loop,
and the switch statement.

5.2.1 The ‘‘if...end’’ structure

MATLAB supports the variants of “if” construct.

• if ... end

• if ... else ... end

43
 • if ... elseif ... else ... end

The simplest form of the if statement is

if expression
statements
end

Here are some examples based on the familiar quadratic formula.

1. discr = b*b - 4*a*c;

if discr < 0
disp(’Warning: discriminant is negative, roots are
imaginary’);
end

2. discr = b*b - 4*a*c;

if discr < 0
disp(’Warning: discriminant is negative, roots are
imaginary’);
else
disp(’Roots are real, but may be repeated’)
end

3. discr = b*b - 4*a*c;

if discr < 0
disp(’Warning: discriminant is negative, roots are
imaginary’);
elseif discr == 0
disp(’Discriminant is zero, roots are repeated’)
else
disp(’Roots are real’)
end

It should be noted that:

• elseif has no space between else and if (one word)

• no semicolon (;) is needed at the end of lines containing if, else, end
• indentation of if block is not required, but facilitate the reading.
• the end statement is required

44
5.2.2 Relational and logical operators
A relational operator compares two numbers by determining whether a comparison is true
or false. Relational operators are shown in Table 5.1.

Table 5.1: Relational and logical operators

Operator Description

> Greater than

< Less than
>= Greater than or equal to
<= Less than or equal to
== Equal to
∼= Not equal to
& AND operator
| OR operator
∼ NOT operator

Note that the “equal to” relational operator consists of two equal signs (==) (with no space
between them), since = is reserved for the assignment operator.

5.2.3 The ‘‘for...end’’ loop

In the for ... end loop, the execution of a command is repeated at a fixed and predeter-
mined number of times. The syntax is

for variable = expression

statements
end

Usually, expression is a vector of the form i:s:j. A simple example of for loop is

for ii=1:5
x=ii*ii
end

It is a good idea to indent the loops for readability, especially when they are nested. Note
that MATLAB editor does it automatically.
Multiple for loops can be nested, in which case indentation helps to improve the
readability. The following statements form the 5-by-5 symmetric matrix A with (i, j) element
i/j for j ≥ i:

45
 n = 5; A = eye(n);
for j=2:n
for i=1:j-1
A(i,j)=i/j;
A(j,i)=i/j;
end
end

5.2.4 The ‘‘while...end’’ loop

This loop is used when the number of passes is not specified. The looping continues until a
stated condition is satisfied. The while loop has the form:

while expression
statements
end

The statements are executed as long as expression is true.

x = 1
while x <= 10
x = 3*x
end

It is important to note that if the condition inside the looping is not well defined, the looping
will continue indefinitely. If this happens, we can stop the execution by pressing Ctrl-C.

5.2.5 Other flow structures

• The break statement. A while loop can be terminated with the break statement,
which passes control to the first statement after the corresponding end. The break
statement can also be used to exit a for loop.

• The continue statement can also be used to exit a for loop to pass immediately to
the next iteration of the loop, skipping the remaining statements in the loop.

• Other control statements include return, continue, switch, etc. For more detail
about these commands, consul MATLAB documentation.

46
5.2.6 Operator precedence
We can build expressions that use any combination of arithmetic, relational, and logical
operators. Precedence rules determine the order in which MATLAB evaluates an expression.
We have already seen this in the “Tutorial Lessons”.
Here we add other operators in the list. The precedence rules for MATLAB are shown
in this list (Table 5.2), ordered from highest (1) to lowest (9) precedence level. Operators
are evaluated from left to right.

Table 5.2: Operator precedence

Precedence Operator

1 Parentheses ()
2 Transpose (. 0 ), power (.ˆ), matrix power (ˆ)
3 Unary plus (+), unary minus (−), logical negation (∼)
4 Multiplication (. ∗), right division (. /), left division (.\),
matrix multiplication (∗), matrix right division (/),
matrix left division (\)
5 Addition (+), subtraction (−)
6 Colon operator (:)
7 Less than (<), less than or equal to (≤), greater (>),
greater than or equal to (≥), equal to (==), not equal to (∼=)
8 Element-wise AND, (&)
9 Element-wise OR, (|)

5.3 Saving output to a file

In addition to displaying output on the screen, the command fprintf can be used for
writing the output to a file. The saved data can subsequently be used by MATLAB or other
softwares.
To save the results of some computation to a file in a text format requires the following
steps:

1. Open a file using fopen

2. Write the output using fprintf

3. Close the file using fclose

Here is an example (script) of its use.

47
 % write some variable length strings to a file
op = fopen(’weekdays.txt’,’wt’);
fprintf(op,’Sunday\nMonday\nTuesday\nWednesday\n’);
fprintf(op,’Thursday\nFriday\nSaturday\n’);
fclose(op);

This file (weekdays.txt) can be opened with any program that can read .txt file.

5.4 Exercises
Note: Due to the teaching class during this Fall Quarter 2005, the problems are temporarily
removed from this section.

48