Interactive Computing

with Matlab
Gerald W. Recktenwald
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Portland State University
[email protected]

These slides are a supplement to the book Numerical Methods with

Matlab: Implementations and Applications, by Gerald W. Recktenwald,

c 2001, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. These slides are
c
2001 Gerald W. Recktenwald. The PDF version of these slides may
be downloaded or stored or printed only for noncommercial, educational
use. The repackaging or sale of these slides in any form, without written
consent of the author, is prohibited.

The latest version of this PDF file, along with other supplemental material
for the book, can be found at www.prenhall.com/recktenwald.

Version 1.02 September 27, 2001

 Overview

• Basic Matlab Operations

Starting Matlab

Using Matlab as a calculator

Introduction to variables and functions
• Matrices and Vectors: All variables are matrices.

Creating matrices and vectors

Subscript notation

Colon notation
• Additional Types of Variables

Complex numbers

Strings

Polynomials
• Working with Matrices and Vectors

Linear algebra

Vectorized operations

Array operators
• Managing the Interactive Environment
• Plotting

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 1

 Starting Matlab

• Double click on the Matlab icon, or on unix systems type

“matlab” at the command line.
• After startup Matlab displays a command window that is
used to enter commands and display text-only results.
• Enter Commands at the command prompt:
>> for full version
EDU> for educational version
• Matlab responds to commands by printing text in the
command window, or by opening a figure window for
graphical output.
• Toggle between windows by clicking on them with the mouse.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 2

 Matlab Windows (version 5)

Helpwin Window
Plot Window

Command Window

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 3

 Matlab Workspace (version 6)

Command Prompt:
Enter typed commands here. Recent Directory Menu:
Text results are displayed here. Used to change current
working directory.

Launch Pad/Workspace: Command History/Current Directory:

Used to browse documentation, Used to view and re-enter typed commands,
or view values of variables in or change directories
the workspace

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 4

 Matlab as a Calculator

Enter formulas at the command prompt

>> 2 + 6 - 4 (press return after ‘‘4’’)

ans =
4

>> ans/2
ans =
2

Or, define and use variables

>> a = 5
a =
5

>> b = 6
b =
6

>> c = b/a
c =
1.2000

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 5

 Built-in Variables

pi (= π ) and ans are a built-in variables

>> pi
ans =
3.1416

>> sin(ans/4)
ans =
0.7071

Note: There is no “degrees” mode. All angles are measured

in radians.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 6

 Built-in Functions

Many standard mathematical functions, such as sin, cos, log,

and log10, are built-in

>> log(256)
ans =
5.5452

>> log10(256)
ans =
2.4082

>> log2(256)
ans =
8

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 7

 Looking for Functions

Syntax:
lookfor string

searches first line of function descriptions for “string”.

Example:
>> lookfor cosine

produces

ACOS Inverse cosine.

ACOSH Inverse hyperbolic cosine.
COS Cosine.
COSH Hyperbolic cosine.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 8

 Ways to Get Help

• Use on-line help to request info on a specific function

>> help sqrt

• The helpwin function opens a separate window for the help

browser
>> helpwin(’sqrt’)

• Use lookfor to find functions by keywords

>> lookfor functionName

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 9

 On-line Help

Syntax:
help functionName

Example:
>> help log

produces

LOG Natural logarithm.

LOG(X) is the natural logarithm of the elements of X.
Complex results are produced if X is not positive.

See also LOG2, LOG10, EXP, LOGM.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 10

 Suppress Output with Semicolon

Results of intermediate steps can be suppressed with semicolons.

Example:
Assign values to x, y, and z, but only display the value of z in
the command window:

>> x = 5;
>> y = sqrt(59);
>> z = log(y) + x^0.25
z =
3.5341

Type variable name and omit the semicolon to print the value of
a variable (that is already defined)

>> y
y =
7.6811 ( = log(sqrt(59)) + 5^0.25 )

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 11

 Multiple Statements per Line

Use commas or semicolons to enter more than one statement at

once. Commas allow multiple statements per line without
suppressing output.

>> a = 5; b = sin(a), c = cosh(a)

b =
-0.9589

c =
74.2099

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 12

 Matlab Variables Names

Legal variable names:

• Begin with one of a–z or A–Z

• Have remaining characters chosen from a–z, A–Z, 0–9, or
• Have a maximum length of 31 characters
• Should not be the name of a built-in variable, built-in
function, or user-defined function

Examples:
xxxxxxxxx
pipeRadius
widgets_per_baubble
mySum
mysum

Note: mySum and mysum are different variables. Matlab is

case sensitive.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 13

 Built-in Matlab Variables

Name Meaning
ans value of an expression when that expression
is not assigned to a variable
eps floating point precision
pi π, (3.141492 . . .)
realmax largest positive floating point number
realmin smallest positive floating point number
Inf ∞, a number larger than realmax,
the result of evaluating 1/0.
NaN not a number, the result of evaluating 0/0

Rule: Only use built-in variables on the right hand side of an

expression. Reassigning the value of a built-in variable
can create problems with built-in functions.

√
Exception: i and j are preassigned to −1. One or both of
i or j are often reassigned as loop indices. More
on this later

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 14

 Matrices and Vectors

All Matlab variables are matrices

A Matlab vector is a matrix with one row or one column

A Matlab scalar is a matrix with one row and one column

Overview of Working with matrices and vectors

• Creating vectors:
linspace and logspace
• Creating matrices:
ones, zeros, eye, diag, . . .
• Subscript notation
• Colon notation
• Vectorization

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 15

 Creating Matlab Variables

Matlab variables are created with an assignment statement

>> x = expression

where expression is a legal combinations of numerical values,

mathematical operators, variables, and function calls that
evaluates to a matrix, vector or scalar.

The expression can involve:

• Manual entry
• Built-in functions that return matrices
• Custom (user-written) functions that return matrices
• Loading matrices from text files or “mat” files

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 16

 Manual Entry

For manual entry, the elements in a vector are enclosed in square

brackets. When creating a row vector, separate elements with a
space.

>> v = [7 3 9]
v =
7 3 9

Separate columns with a semicolon

>> w = [2; 6; 1]
w =
2
6
1

In a matrix, row elements are separated by spaces,

and columns are separated by semicolons

>> A = [1 2 3; 5 7 11; 13 17 19]

A =
1 2 3
5 7 11
13 17 19

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 17

 Transpose Operator

Once it is created, a variable can be transformed with other

operators. The transpose operator converts a row vector to a
column vector (and vice versa), and it changes the rows of a
matrix to columns.

>> v = [2 4 1 7]
v =
2 4 1 7

>> v’
ans =
2
4
1
7

>> A = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 9 ]
A =
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9

>> A’
ans =
1 4 7
2 5 8
3 6 9

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 18

 Overwriting Variables

Once a variable has been created, it can be reassigned

>> x = 2;
>> x = x + 2
x =
4

>> y = [1 2 3 4]
y =
1 2 3 4

>> y = y’
y =
1
2
3
4

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 19

 Creating vectors with linspace

The linspace function creates vectors with elements having

uniform linear spacing.

Syntax:
x = linspace(startValue,endValue)
x = linspace(startValue,endValue,nelements)

Examples:
>> u = linspace(0.0,0.25,5)
u =
0 0.0625 0.1250 0.1875 0.2500

>> u = linspace(0.0,0.25);

>> v = linspace(0,9,4)’
v =
0
3
6
9

Note: Column vectors are created by appending the

transpose operator to linspace

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 20

 Example: A Table of Trig Functions

>> x = linspace(0,2*pi,6)’; (note transpose)

>> y = sin(x);
>> z = cos(x);
>> [x y z]
ans =
0 0 1.0000
1.2566 0.9511 0.3090
2.5133 0.5878 -0.8090
3.7699 -0.5878 -0.8090
5.0265 -0.9511 0.3090
6.2832 0 1.0000

The expressions y = sin(x) and z = cos(x) take advantage

of vectorization. If the input to a vectorized function is a vector
or matrix, the output is often a vector or matrix having the same
shape. More on this later.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 21

 Creating vectors with logspace

The logspace function creates vectors with elements having

uniform logarithmic spacing.

Syntax:
x = logspace(startValue,endValue)
x = logspace(startValue,endValue,nelements)

creates nelements elements between 10startValue and

10endValue. The default value of nelements is 100.

Example:
>> w = logspace(1,4,4)
w =
10 100 1000 10000

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 22

 Functions to Create Matrices (1)

Name Operation(s) Performed

diag create a matrix with a specified diagonal entries,
or extract diagonal entries of a matrix
eye create an identity matrix
ones create a matrix filled with ones
rand create a matrix filled with random numbers
zeros create a matrix filled with zeros
linspace create a row vector of linearly spaced elements
logspace create a row vector of logarithmically spaced
elements

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 23

 Functions to Create Matrices (2)

Use ones and zeros to set intial values of a matrix or vector.

Syntax:
A = ones(nrows,ncols)
A = zeros(nrows,ncols)

Examples:
>> D = ones(3,3)
D =
1 1 1
1 1 1
1 1 1

>> E = ones(2,4)
E =
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 24

 Functions to Create Matrices (3)

ones and zeros are also used to create vectors. To do so, set
either nrows or ncols to 1.

>> s = ones(1,4)
s =
1 1 1 1

>> t = zeros(3,1)
t =
0
0
0

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 25

 Functions to Create Matrices (4)

The eye function creates identity matrices of a specified size. It

can also create non-square matrices with ones on the main
diagonal.

Syntax:
A = eye(n)
A = eye(nrows,ncols)

Examples:
>> C = eye(5)
C =
1 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 0
0 0 0 1 0
0 0 0 0 1

>> D = eye(3,5)
D =
1 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 0

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 26

 Functions to Create Matrices (5)

The diag function can either create a matrix with specified

diagonal elements, or extract the diagonal elements from a
matrix

Syntax:
A = diag(v)
v = diag(A)

Example:
Use diag to create a matrix

>> v = [1 2 3];
>> A = diag(v)
A =
1 0 0
0 2 0
0 0 3

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 27

 Functions to Create Matrices (6)

Example:
Use diag to extract the diagonal of a matrix

>> B = [1:4; 5:8; 9:12]

B =
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12

>> w = diag(B)
w =
1
6
11

Note: The action of the diag function depends on the

characteristics and number of the input(s). This
polymorphic behavior of Matlab functions is
common. The on-line documentation (help diag)
explains the possible variations.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 28

 Subscript Notation (1)

If A is a matrix, A(i,j) selects the element in the ith row and

jth column. Subscript notation can be used on the right hand
side of an expression to refer to a matrix element.

>> A = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 9];
>> b = A(3,2)
b =
8

>> c = A(1,1)
c =
1

Subscript notation is also used to assign matrix elements

>> A(1,1) = c/b

A =
0.2500 2.0000 3.0000
4.0000 5.0000 6.0000
7.0000 8.0000 9.0000

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 29

 Subscript Notation (2)

Referring to elements outside of current matrix dimensions

results in an error

>> A = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 9];
>> A(1,4)
??? Index exceeds matrix dimensions.

Assigning an elements outside of current matrix dimensions

causes the matrix to be resized!

>> A = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 9];
A =
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9

>> A(4,4) = 11
A =
1 2 3 0
4 5 6 0
7 8 9 0
0 0 0 11

Matlab automatically resizes matrices on the fly.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 30

 Colon Notation (1)

Colon notation is very powerful and very important in the

effective use of Matlab. The colon is used as both an operator
and as a wildcard.

Use colon notation to:

• create vectors
• refer to or extract ranges of matrix elements

Syntax:
startValue:endValue
startValue:increment:endValue

Note: startValue, increment, and endValue do not need

to be integers

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 31

 Colon Notation (2)

Creating row vectors:

>> s = 1:4
s =
1 2 3 4

>> t = 0:0.1:0.4
t =
0 0.1000 0.2000 0.3000 0.4000

Creating column vectors:

>> u = (1:5)’
u =
1
2
3
4
5

>> v = 1:5’
v =
1 2 3 4 5

v is a row vector because 1:5’ creates a vector between 1 and

the transpose of 5.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 32

 Colon Notation (3)

Use colon as a wildcard to refer to an entire column or row

>> A = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 9];
>> A(:,1)
ans =
1
4
7

>> A(2,:)
ans =
4 5 6

Or use colon notation to refer to subsets of columns or rows

>> A(2:3,1)
ans =
4
7

>> A(1:2,2:3)
ans =
ans =
2 3
5 6

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 33

 Colon Notation (4)

Colon notation is often used in compact expressions to obtain

results that would otherwise require several steps.

Example:
>> A = ones(8,8);
>> A(3:6,3:6) = zeros(4,4)
A =
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 34

 Colon Notation (5)

Finally, colon notation is used to convert any vector or matrix to

a column vector.

Examples:
>> x = 1:4;
>> y = x(:)
y =
1
2
3
4

>> A = rand(2,3);
>> v = A(:)
v =
0.9501
0.2311
0.6068
0.4860
0.8913
0.7621
0.4565

Note: The rand function generates random elements between zero and
one. Repeating the preceding statements will, in all likelihood,
produce different numerical values for the elements of v.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 35

 Additional Types of Variables

The basic Matlab variable is a matrix — a two dimensional

array of values. The elements of a matrix variable can either be
numeric values or characters. If the elements are numeric values
they can either be real or complex (imaginary).

More general variable types are available: n-dimensional arrays

(where n > 2), structs, cell arrays, and objects. Numeric (real
and complex) and string arrays of dimension two or less will be
sufficient for our purposes.

We now consider some simple variations on numeric and string

matrices:

• Complex Numbers
• Strings
• Polynomials

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 36

 Complex Numbers

Matlab automatically performs complex arithmetic

>> sqrt(-4)
ans =
0 + 2.0000i

>> x = 1 + 2*i (or, x = 1 + 2*j)

x =
1.0000 + 2.0000i

>> y = 1 - 2*i
y =
1.0000 - 2.0000i

>> z = x*y
z =
5

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 37

 Unit Imaginary Numbers

√ ordinary Matlab variables that have be preassigned

i and j are
the value −1.

>> i^2
ans =
-1

Both or either i and j can be reassigned

>> i = 5;
>> t = 8;
>> u = sqrt(i-t) (i-t = -3, not -8+i)
u =
0 + 1.7321i

>> u*u
ans =
-3.0000

>> A = [1 2; 3 4];
>> i = 2;
>> A(i,i) = 1
A =
1 2
3 1

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 38

 Euler Notation (1)

Euler notation represents a complex number by a phaser

iθ
z = ζe
x = Re(z) = |z| cos(θ) = ζ cos(θ)
y = iIm(z) = i|z| sin(θ) = iζ sin(θ)

imaginary

iy z = ζ eiθ
ζ

θ
x real

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 39

 Functions for Complex Arithmetic (1)

Function Operation
abs Compute the magnitude of a number
abs(z) is equivalent to
to sqrt( real(z)^2 + imag(z)^2 )
angle Angle of complex number in Euler notation
exp If x is real,
exp(x) = ex
If z is complex,
exp(z) = eRe(z) (cos(Im(z) + i sin(Im(z))
conj Complex conjugate of a number
imag Extract the imaginary part of a complex number
real Extract the real part of a complex number

Note: When working with complex numbers, it is a good

idea to√reserve either i or j for the unit imaginary
value −1.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 40

 Functions for Complex Arithmetic (2)

Examples:
>> zeta = 5; theta = pi/3;
>> z = zeta*exp(i*theta)
z =
2.5000 + 4.3301i

>> abs(z)
ans =
5

>> sqrt(z*conj(z))
ans =
5

>> x = real(z)
x =
2.5000

>> y = imag(z)
y =
4.3301

>> angle(z)*180/pi
ans =
60.0000

Remember: There is no “degrees” mode in Matlab. All angles are

measured in radians.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 41

 Strings

• Strings are matrices with character elements.

• String constants are enclosed in single quotes
• Colon notation and subscript operations apply

Examples:
>> first = ’John’;
>> last = ’Coltrane’;
>> name = [first,’ ’,last]
name =
John Coltrane

>> length(name)
ans =
13

>> name(9:13)
ans =
trane

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 42

 Functions for String Manipulation (1)

Function Operation
char convert an integer to the character using ASCII codes,
or combine characters into a character matrix
findstr finds one string in another string
length returns the number of characters in a string
num2str converts a number to string
str2num converts a string to a number
strcmp compares two strings
strmatch identifies rows of a character array that begin
with a string
strncmp compares the first n elements of two strings
sprintf converts strings and numeric values to a string

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 43

 Functions for String Manipulation (2)

Examples:
>> msg1 = [’There are ’,num2str(100/2.54),’ inches in a meter’]
message1 =
There are 39.3701 inches in a meter

>> msg2 = sprintf(’There are %5.2f cubic inches in a liter’,1000/2.54^3)

message2 =
There are 61.02 cubic inches in a liter

>> both = char(msg1,msg2)

both =
There are 39.3701 inches in a meter
There are 61.02 cubic inches in a liter

>> strcmp(msg1,msg2)
ans =
0

>> strncmp(msg1,msg2,9)
ans =
1

>> findstr(’in’,msg1)
ans =
19 26

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 44

 Polynomials

Matlab polynomials are stored as vectors of coefficients. The

polynomial coefficients are stored in decreasing powers of x
n n−1
Pn(x) = c1x + c2x + . . . + cnx + cn+1

Example:
Evaluate x3 − 2x + 12 at x = −1.5

>> c = [1 0 -2 12];
>> polyval(c,1.5)
ans =
12.3750

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 45

 Functions for Manipulating Polynomials

Function Operations performed

conv product (convolution) of two polynomials
deconv division (deconvolution) of two polynomials
poly Create a polynomial having specified roots
polyder Differentiate a polynomial
polyval Evaluate a polynomial
polyfit Polynomial curve fit
roots Find roots of a polynomial

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 46

 Manipulation of Matrices and Vectors

The name “Matlab” evolved as an abbreviation of “MATrix

LABoratory”. The data types and syntax used by Matlab
make it easy to perform the standard operations of linear algebra
including addition and subtraction, multiplication of vectors and
matrices, and solving linear systems of equations.

Chapter 7 provides a detailed review of linear algebra. Here we

provide a simple introduction to some operations that are
necessary for routine calculation.

• Vector addition and subtraction

• Inner and outer products
• Vectorization
• Array operators

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 47

 Vector Addition and Subtraction

Vector and addition and subtraction are element-by-element

operations.

Example:
>> u = [10 9 8]; (u and v are row vectors)
>> v = [1 2 3];
>> u+v
ans =
11 11 11

>> u-v
ans =
9 7 5

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 48

 Vector Inner and Outer Products

The inner product combines two vectors to form a scalar

T


σ = u · v = u v ⇐⇒ σ = ui v i

The outer product combines two vectors to form a matrix

T
A = u v ⇐⇒ ai,j = ui vj

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 49

 Inner and Outer Products in Matlab

Inner and outer products are supported in Matlab as natural

extensions of the multiplication operator

>> u = [10 9 8]; (u and v are row vectors)

>> v = [1 2 3];
>> u*v’ (inner product)
ans =
52

>> u’*v (outer product)

ans =
10 20 30
9 18 27
8 16 24

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 50

 Vectorization

• Vectorization is the use of single, compact expressions that

operate on all elements of a vector without explicitly
executing a loop. The loop is executed by the Matlab
kernel, which is much more efficient at looping than
interpreted Matlab code.
• Vectorization allows calculations to be expressed succintly so
that programmers get a high level (as opposed to detailed)
view of the operations being performed.
• Vectorization is important to make Matlab operate
efficiently.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 51

 Vectorization of Built-in Functions

Most built-in function support vectorized operations. If the input

is a scalar the result is a scalar. If the input is a vector or matrix,
the output is a vector or matrix with the same number of rows
and columns as the input.

Example:
>> x = 0:pi/4:pi (define a row vector)
x =
0 0.7854 1.5708 2.3562 3.1416

>> y = cos(x) (evaluate cosine of each x(i)

y =
1.0000 0.7071 0 -0.7071 -1.0000

Contrast with Fortran implementation:

real x(5),y(5)
pi = 3.14159624
dx = pi/4.0
do 10 i=1,5
x(i) = (i-1)*dx
y(i) = sin(x(i))
10 continue

No explicit loop is necessary in Matlab.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 52

 Vector Calculations (3)

More examples

>> A = pi*[ 1 2; 3 4]
A =
3.1416 6.2832
9.4248 12.5664

>> S = sin(A)
S =
0 0
0 0

>> B = A/2
B =
1.5708 3.1416
4.7124 6.2832

>> T = sin(B)
T =
1 0
-1 0

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 53

 Array Operators

Array operators support element-by-element operations that are

not defined by the rules of linear algebra

Array operators are designated by a period prepended to the

standard operator

Symbol Operation
.* element-by-element multiplication
./ element-by-element “right” division
.\ element-by-element “left” division
.^ element-by-element exponentiation

Array operators are a very important tool for writing vectorized

code.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 54

 Using Array Operators (1)

Examples:
Element-by-element multiplication and division

>> u = [1 2 3];
>> v = [4 5 6];
>> w = u.*v (element-by-element product)
w =
4 10 18

>> x = u./v (element-by-element division)

x =
0.2500 0.4000 0.5000

>> y = sin(pi*u/2) .* cos(pi*v/2)

y =
1 0 1

>> z = sin(pi*u/2) ./ cos(pi*v/2)

Warning: Divide by zero.

z =
1 NaN 1

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 55

 Using Array Operators (2)

Examples:
Application to matrices

>> A = [1 2 3 4; 5 6 7 8];
>> B = [8 7 6 5; 4 3 2 1];
>> A.*B
ans =
8 14 18 20
20 18 14 8

>> A*B
??? Error using ==> *
Inner matrix dimensions must agree.

>> A*B’
ans =
60 20
164 60

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

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 56

 The Matlab Workspace (1)

All variables defined as the result of entering statements in the

command window, exist in the Matlab workspace.

At the beginning of a Matlab session, the workspace is empty.

Being aware of the workspace allows you to

• Create, assign, and delete variables

• Load data from external files
• Manipulate the Matlab path

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 57

 The Matlab Workspace (2)

The clear command deletes variables from the workspace. The

who command lists the names of variables in the workspace

>> clear (Delete all variables from the workspace)

>> who
(No response, no variables are defined after ‘clear’)

>> a = 5; b = 2; c = 1;
>> d(1) = sqrt(b^2 - 4*a*c);
>> d(2) = -d(1);
>> who
Your variables are:

a b c d

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 58

 The Matlab Workspace (3)

The whos command lists the name, size, memory allocation, and
the class of each variables defined in the workspace.

>> whos

Name Size Bytes Class

a 1x1 8 double array

b 1x1 8 double array
c 1x1 8 double array
d 1x2 32 double array (complex)

Grand total is 5 elements using 56 bytes

Built-in variable classes are double, char, sparse, struct, and

cell. The class of a variable determines the type of data that
can be stored in it. We will be dealing primarily with numeric
data, which is the double class, and occasionally with string
data, which is in the char class.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 59

 Working with External Data Files

Write data to a file

save fileName
save fileName variable1 variable2 ...
save fileName variable1 variable2 ... -ascii

Read in data stored in matrices

load fileName
load fileName matrixVariable

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 60

 Loading Data from External File

Example:
Load data from a file and plot the data

>> load wolfSun.dat;

>> xdata = wolfSun(:,1);
>> ydata = wolfSun(:,2);
>> plot(xdata,ydata)

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 61

 The Matlab Path

Matlab will only use those functions and data files that are in
its path.

To add N:\IMAUSER\ME352\PS2 to the path, type

>> p = path;
>> path(p,’N:\IMAUSER\ME352\PS2’);

Matlab version 5 and later has an interactive path editor that

makes it easy to adjust the path.

The path specification string depends on the operating system.

On a Unix/Linux computer a path setting operation might look
like:

>> p = path;
>> path(p,’~/matlab/ME352/ps2’);

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 62

 Plotting

• Plotting (x, y) data

• Axis scaling and annotation
• 2D (contour) and 3D (surface) plotting

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 63

 Plotting (x, y) Data (1)

Two dimensional plots are created with the plot function

Syntax:
plot(x,y)
plot(xdata,ydata,symbol)
plot(x1,y1,x2,y2,...)
plot(x1,y1,symbol1,x2,y2,symbol2,...)

Note: x and y must have the same shape, x1 and y1 must

have the same shape, x2 and y2 must have the same
shape, etc.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 64

 Plotting (x, y) Data (2)

Example:
A simple line plot

>> x = linspace(0,2*pi);
>> y = sin(x);
>> plot(x,y);

0.5

-0.5

-1
0 2 4 6 8

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 65

 Line and Symbol Types (1)

The curves for a data set are drawn from combinations of the
color, symbol, and line types in the following table.

Color Symbol Line

y yellow . point - solid
m magenta o circle : dotted
c cyan x x-mark -. dashdot
r red + plus -- dashed
g green * star
b blue s square
w white d diamond
k black v triangle
(down)
^ triangle
(up)
< triangle
(left)
> triangle
(right)
p pentagram
h hexagram

To choose a color/symbol/line style, chose one entry from each

column.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 66

 Line and Symbol Types (2)

Examples:
Put yellow circles at the data points:

plot(x,y,’yo’)

Plot a red dashed line with no symbols:

plot(x,y,’r--’)

Put black diamonds at each data point and connect the

diamonds with black dashed lines:

plot(x,y,’kd--’)

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 67

 Alternative Axis Scaling (1)

Combinations of linear and logarithmic scaling are obtained with

functions that, other than their name, have the same syntax as
the plot function.

Name Axis scaling

loglog log10(y) versus log10(x)
plot linear y versus x
semilogx linear y versus log10(x)
semilogy log10(y) versus linear x

Note: As expected, use of logarithmic axis scaling for data

sets with negative or zero values results in a error.
Matlab will complain and then plot only the positive
(nonzero) data.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 68

 Alternative Axis Scaling (2)

Example:
>> x = linspace(0,3);
>> y = 10*exp(-2*x);
>> plot(x,y);

10

0
0 1 2 3

>> semilogy(x,y);

1
10

0
10

-1
10

-2
10
0 1 2 3

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 69

 Multiple plots per figure window (1)

The subplot function is used to create a matrix of plots in a

single figure window.

Syntax:
subplot(nrows,ncols,thisPlot)

Repeat the values of nrows and ncols for all plots in a single
figure window. Increment thisPlot for each plot

Example:
>> x = linspace(0,2*pi);
>> subplot(2,2,1);
>> plot(x,sin(x)); axis([0 2*pi -1.5 1.5]); title(’sin(x)’);

>> subplot(2,2,2);
>> plot(x,sin(2*x)); axis([0 2*pi -1.5 1.5]); title(’sin(2x)’);

>> subplot(2,2,3);
>> plot(x,sin(3*x)); axis([0 2*pi -1.5 1.5]); title(’sin(3x)’);

>> subplot(2,2,4);
>> plot(x,sin(4*x)); axis([0 2*pi -1.5 1.5]); title(’sin(4x)’);

(See next slide for the plot.)

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 70

 Multiple plots per figure window (2)

sin(x) sin(2x)
1.5 1.5
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
-0.5 -0.5
-1 -1
-1.5 -1.5
0 2 4 6 0 2 4 6

sin(3x) sin(4x)
1.5 1.5
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
-0.5 -0.5
-1 -1
-1.5 -1.5
0 2 4 6 0 2 4 6

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 71

 Plot Annotation

Name Operation(s) performed

axis Reset axis limits

grid Draw grid lines corresponding to the major

major ticks on the x and y axes

gtext Add text to a location determined

by a mouse click

legend Create a legend to identify symbols

and line types when multiple curves
are drawn on the same plot

text Add text to a specified (x, y) location

xlabel Label the x-axis

ylabel Label the y -axis

title Add a title above the plot

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 72

 Plot Annotation Example

>> D = load(’pdxTemp.dat’); m = D(:,1); T = D(:,2:4);

>> plot(m,t(:,1),’ro’,m,T(:,2),’k+’,m,T(:,3),’b-’);
>> xlabel(’Month’);
>> ylabel(’Temperature ({}^\circ F)’);
>> title(’Monthly average temperature at PDX’);
>> axis([1 12 20 100]);
>> legend(’High’,’Low’,’Average’,2);

Monthly average temperatures at PDX

100
High
Low
90 Average

80
Temperature ( F)

70
°

60

50

40

30

20
2 4 6 8 10 12
Month

Note: The pdxTemp.dat file is in the data directory of the

NMM toolbox. Make sure the toolbox is installed and
is included in the Matlab path.

NMM: Interactive Computing with Matlab page 73