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INTRODUCING
MATLAB
 Introduction to MATLAB
2

 MATLAB is a commercial software that integrate programming system,

including graphical interfaces and a large number of specialized
toolboxes.
 This lab session introductory lecture will provide some basic notions needed
for the understanding of the remainder of the lab session.
 A deeper study of MATLAB can be obtained from many MATLAB books and
the very useful help of MATLAB.
 To get info on how to use a function:

 Help lists related functions at the bottom and links to the doc

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3

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 MATRICES
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 Matrices are the fundamental object of MATLAB and it can be created in MATLAB in
many ways, the simplest one obtained by the commands

 We can also generate matrices by pre-defined functions, such as random matrices

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 Matrices, cont’d
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Operating with Matrices

 We can add, subtract, multiply, and transpose matrices.

 For example, we can obtain a matrix C = A + B, by the following commands

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 Matrices. cont’d
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 The matrices can be multiplied, for example E = A∗D, as shown in the following
example

 The transpose of a matrix is given by the apostrophe, as

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 STATEMENTS
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 Statements are operators, functions and variables, always producing a

matrix which can be used later.
 Some examples of statements:
Remark:
 If one wants to cancel the echo of the input, a
semi-colon at the end of the statement suffices.
 MATLAB is case-sensitive, variables a and A
being different objects.
 We can erase variables from the workspace by
using clear, or clear all.
 A given object can be erased, such as clear A.

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 MATRIX FUNCTIONS
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 Some useful matrix functions are given in Table 1.1

 Some examples of such functions (here we build matrices by blocks)

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 Matrix Functions, cont’d
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 Another example of matrices built from blocks:

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 CONDITIONALS, if and switch
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 Often a function needs to branch based on runtime conditions.

 MATLAB offers structures for this similar to those in most languages.
 Here is an example illustrating most of the features of if.
 If there are many options, it may better to use switch instead.

String

 Note: Strings
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 LOOPS: for and while
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 Many programs require iteration, or repetitive execution of a block of

statements.
 This code for calculating the first 10 Fibonacci numbers illustrates the most
common type of for/end loop:

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 Loops: for and while, cont’d
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 It is sometimes necessary to repeat statements based on a condition rather

than a fixed number of times.
 This is done with while.

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 Loops: for and while, cont’d
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 Other examples of for/end loops:

 and in inverse form

 Note the initial

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 RELATIONS
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 Relations in MATLAB are shown in tables

Table 1.2 Some relation operators

Table 1.3 Logical operators

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 SCALAR FUNCTIONS
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 Some MATLAB functions are applied to scalars only,such as those listed below
Table 1.4. Scalar functions

 Note that such functions can be applied to all elements of a vector or matrix,
as in

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 VECTOR FUNCTIONS
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 And, some MATLAB functions operate on vectors only, such as those illustrated in
Table 1.5. Vector functions

 Consider for example vector X=1:10. The sum, mean and maximum values are
evaluated as

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 MATRIX FUNCTIONS
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 Some important matrix functions are listed in Table 1.6. Matrix functions

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 Matrix functions, cont’d
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 In some cases such functions may use more than one output argument, as in

If we wish to obtain the eigenvalues only,

Besides, when we need to obtain the eigenvectors and the
eigenvalues of matrix A.

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 SUBMATRIX
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 In MATLAB it is possible to manipulate matrices in order to make code more

compact or more efficient.
 For example, using the colon we can generate vectors, as in

 or using increments

 This sort of vectorization programming is quite efficient, no for/end cycles are

used

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 Submatrix, cont’d
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 This efficiency can be seen in the generation of a table of sines,

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 LOGICAL INDEXING
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 Logical indexing arise from logical relations, resulting in a logical array, with
elements 0 or 1.

 Then we can use such array as a mask to modify the original matrix, as shown
next.

 This will be very useful in finite element calculations, particularly when

imposing boundary conditions
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 M-files, scripts and functions
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 A M-file is a plain text file with MATLAB commands, saved with extension .m.
 The M-files can be scripts of functions.

 By using the editor of MATLAB we can insert comments or statements and then
save or compile the m-file.
 Note that the percent sign % represents a comment.

 No statement after this sign will be executed. Comments are quite useful for
documenting the file.
 M-files are useful when the number of statements is large, or when you want
to execute it at a later stage, or frequently, or even to run it in background.

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 M-files, scripts and functions, cont’d
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 A simple example of a script

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 M-files, scripts and functions, cont’d
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 Functions act like subroutines in fortran where a particular set of tasks is

performed.
 A typical function is given below,
input parameters in parenthesis

output parameters in square parenthesis.

 We then call this function as

 producing

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 M-files, scripts and functions, cont’d
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 It is possible to use only some output parameters.

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 Graphics: 2D plots
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 Using the command plot, we can produce simple 2D plots in a figure, using two vectors
with x and y coordinates. A simple example

 producing the plot of figure 1.1.

Fig. 1.2 Colors and

Or markers
 Graphics: 3D plots
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 As for 2D plots, we can produce 3D plots with plot3 using x, y, and z vectors. For
example

 produces the plot illustrated in figure 1.3.

Fig. 1.3 3D plot

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 Graphics, cont’d
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 Table 1.7 Some graphics commands

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 LINEAR ALGEBRA
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 In our finite element calculations we typically need to solve systems of

equations, or obtain the eigenvalues of a matrix.
 MATLAB has a large number of functions for linear algebra.
 Consider two matrices (for example a stiffness matrix and a mass matrix), for
which we wish to calculate the generalized eigenproblem.
F   K x

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 Linear algebra, cont’d
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 The MATLAB function eig can be applied to

the generalized eigenproblem, producing
 matrix V, each column containing an
eigenvector, and
 matrix D, containing the eigenvalues at its
diagonal.

 If the matrices are the stiffness and the

mass matrices then
 the eigenvectors = modes of vibration,
 the eigenvalues = the square roots of the
natural frequencies of the system.

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The End!
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