Lab of COMP 406

Introduction of Matlab (I)

Teaching Assistant: Pei-Yuan Zhou

Contact: [email protected]
Lab 1: 12 Sep., 2014
1
 Outline

 Matlab Description
• Where is Matlab
• What is Matlab
• Matlab Desktop
• MATLAB Math Operators
 Matrix and Array
• Creation, Operation, Concatenation
 Workspace Variables
 Calling Functions

2
 Where is Matlab?

• Find the Matlab under the folder

– 1. Y:\Win32\Matlab\R2012a
– 2. Double click it and open Matlab
• Or open Matlab on your computer
– 1. Click 'Start'
– 2. Click 'Run'
– 3. Input 'nalwin32'
– 4. Find the Matlab under the folder /Network Application
Packages/Statistical & Mathematical/Matlab
• Send shortcut to your folder, for example: J:\starry
If you have any problem, please contact the technical
staffs in PQ608. They are very nice and helpful.
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 What is MATLAB ?

• MATLAB
– MATrix LABoratory: MATLAB is a program for doing
numerical computation. It was originally designed for solving
linear algebra type problems using matrices. It’s name is derived
from MATrix LABoratory.
– MATLAB has since been expanded and now has built-in
functions for solving problems requiring data analysis, signal
processing, optimization, and several other types of scientific
computations. It also contains functions for 2-D and 3-D graphics
and animation.

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 MATLAB Description

• Considering MATLAB at home

– Standard edition
• Available for roughly 2 thousand dollars

– Student edition
• Available for roughly 1 hundred dollars.
• Some limitations, such as the allowable size of a matrix

http://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab/

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 Matlab Desktop (Cont.)

Launch Pad

Workspace

Current
Directory
Command
History
Window

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 Matlab Desktop (cont.)

• Current Folder
– Access your files
• Command Window
– Enter commands at the command line, indicated by the prompt
(>>).
• Workspace
– view program variables
– double click on a variable to see it in the Array Editor
– Explore data that you create or import from files
• Command History
– View or rerun commands that you entered at the command line
• Launch Pad
– access help, tools, demos and documentation 7
 Command window

• The MATLAB environment is command oriented somewhat like

UNIX. A prompt (>>) appears on the screen and a MATLAB
statement can be entered. When the <ENTER> key is pressed, the
statement is executed, and another prompt appears.
• If a statement is terminated with a semicolon ( ; ), no results will be
displayed. Otherwise results will appear before the next prompt.

»a=5;
»b=a/2

b=

2.5000

»
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 MATLAB Math Operators

Power ^ or .^ a^b or a.^b

Multiplication * (matrix multiply) or .* (array multiply)
a*b or a.*b
Division / or ./ a/b or a./b
or \ or .\ b\a or b.\a
NOTE: 56/8 = 8\56
Addition + a + b
Subtraction - a - b
Assignment = a = b (assign b to a)
cos () Cosine value of a specific angle
sin() Sine value of a specific angle

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 Ex1

• As you work in MATLAB, you issue commands that

create variables and call functions. For example, create a
variable named a by typing this statement at the command
line:
a=1
• MATLAB adds variable a to the workspace and displays
the result in the Command Window.
• Try more:
b=2
c=a+b
d = cos(a)
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 Ex2

• When you do not specify an output variable, MATLAB

uses the variable ans, short for answer, to store the results
of your calculation.
>>sin(a)
ans =
0.8415
• If you end a statement with a semicolon, MATLAB
performs the computation, but suppresses the display of
output in the Command Window.
>>e = a*b;

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 Outline

 Matlab Description
• Where is Matlab
• What is Matlab
• Matlab Desktop
• MATLAB Math Operators
 Matrix and Array
• Creation, Operation, Concatenation
 Workspace Variables
 Calling Functions

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 Matrices and Arrays

• MATLAB is an abbreviation for “matrix laboratory”.

While other programming languages mostly work with
numbers one at a time, MATLAB is designed to operate
primarily on whole matrices and arrays.

• All MATLAB variables are multidimensional arrays, no

matter what type of data. A matrix is a two-dimensional
array often used for linear algebra.

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 Creation : Array / Matrix

• 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]
a=
1234
• This type of array is a row vector.
• To create a matrix that has multiple rows, separate the
rows with semicolons.
>> a = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 10]

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 Creation: Matrix (function)

• 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

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 Matrix Operations

• MATLAB allows you to process all of the values in a

matrix using a single arithmetic operator or function.
• Practice more:
>> a + 10
>> sin(a)
• To transpose a matrix, use a single quote ('):
>> a'

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 Matrix Operations

• 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:
>>a = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 10]
>>p = a*inv(a)
p=
1.0000 0 −0.0000
0 1.0000 0
0 0 1.0000
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 Matrix Operations

• 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 %16-bits
>>p = a*inv(a)
p=
1.000000000000000 0 −0.000000000000000
0 1.00000000000000 0
0 0 0.999999999999998
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 Matrix Operations

• Reset the display to the shorter format using

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 q=a.*a
30 36 45 1 4 9
66 81 102 16 25 36
109 134 169 49 64 100

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 Matrix Operations

• 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:

p=a^3 = a*a*a q=a.^3

489 600 756 1 8 27
1104 1353 1704 64 125 216
1828 2240 2821 343 512 1000

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 Concatenation

• Concatenation is the process of joining arrays to make

larger ones. In fact, you made your first array by
concatenating its individual elements. The pair of square
brackets [] is the concatenation operator.
>>A = [a,a]

A=
1 2 3 1 2 3
4 5 6 4 5 6
7 8 10 7 8 10
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 Concatenation

• Concatenating arrays next to one another using commas is

called horizontal concatenation. Each array must have the
same number of rows. Similarly, when the arrays have the
same number of columns, you can concatenate vertically
using semicolons.
A = [a; a]
A=
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 10
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 10 22
 Outline

 Matlab Description
• Where is Matlab
• What is Matlab
• Matlab Desktop
• MATLAB Math Operators
 Matrix and Array
• Creation, Operation, Concatenation
 Workspace Variables
 Calling Functions

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 Workspace Variables

• The workspace contains variables that you create within or

import into MATLAB from data files or other programs.
For example, these statements create variables A and B in
the workspace.
A = magic(4);
B = rand(3,5,2);
• You can view the contents of the workspace using whos.
whos
• The variables also appear in the Workspace pane on the
desktop.

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 Workspace Variables

• Workspace variables do not persist after you exit

MATLAB. Save your data for later use with the save
command,
save myfile.mat
• Saving preserves the workspace in your current working
folder in a compressed file with a .mat extension, called a
MAT-file.
• To clear all the variables from the workspace, use the clear
command.
• Restore data from a MAT-file into the workspace using
load.
load myfile.mat
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 Exercise

a = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 10];
z = zeros(5,1);
A = magic(4);
B = rand(3,5,2);

whos

save lab1.mat

load lab1.mat
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 Outline

 Matlab Description
• Where is Matlab
• What is Matlab
• Matlab Desktop
• MATLAB Math Operators
 Matrix and Array
• Creation, Operation, Concatenation
 Workspace Variables
 Calling Functions

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 Calling Functions

• MATLAB provides a large number of functions that

perform computational tasks. Functions are equivalent to
subroutines or methods in other programming languages.
• Suppose that your workspace includes variables A and B,
such as
A = [1 3 5];
B = [10 6 4];
• To call a function, enclose its input arguments in
parentheses:
max(A)
ans =
5
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 Calling Functions

• If there are multiple input arguments, separate them with

commas:
max(A,B)
ans =
10 6 5
• Return output from a function by assigning it to a variable:
maxA = max(A);
• When there are multiple output arguments, enclose them in
square brackets:
[maxA,location] = max(A);

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 Calling Functions

• Enclose any character string inputs in single quotes:

disp ('hello world');
• To call a function that does not require any inputs and does
not return any outputs, type only the function name:
clc
• The clc function clears the Command Window.
• clear removes all variables from the workspace.

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 Help and Documentation

• All MATLAB functions have supporting documentation

that includes examples and describes the function inputs,
outputs, and calling syntax.
• There are several ways to access this information from the
command line:
• Open the function documentation in a separate window
using the doc command.
doc mean
• View an abbreviated text version of the function
documentation in the Command Window using the help
command.
help mean
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 Exercises

• >> a = ones(2, 4) • >> A = [1, 2; 3, 4];

• >> a = eye(3) • >> B = [-1, -2; 2,1];
• >> cos(pi) • >> S = 3;
• >> sin(pi) • >>A.*B
• >> 0/0 • >> A*B
• >> 1/0 • >> S.*A
• >> sqrt(36) • >> S*B

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 More Exercises
2 5 3
• How to assign 7 3 5  to a variable named a ? And
 
9 1 2
what’s the transpose of a ?

2 5 3 2 7 3 
7 3 5  7 10 5 
• What’s the summation of   and  ?
9 1 2 4 1 15

• Type in 1.8 == 1.80000000000000000000000001 (24

zeros in total, see what happen)

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 What We have Learned?

1. Matlab Description and Desktop Basics

2. Matrices
3. Workspace Variables
4. * Character Strings
5. Calling Functions

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