Programming in MATLAB

Lecture 1: Variables, Scripts,

and Operations
 Outline

(1) Getting Started

(2) Scripts
(3) Making Variables
(4) Manipulating Variables
(5) Basic Plotting
 Getting Started

• Open up MATLAB for Windows

 Through the START Menu
 Current directory

Workspace

Command Window

Command History
 Making Folders

• Use folders to keep your programs organized

• To make a new folder, click the ‘Browse’ button next to ‘Current

Directory’

• Click the ‘Make New Folder’ button, and change the name of the
folder. Do NOT use spaces in folder names. In the MATLAB
folder, make two new folders: IAPMatlab\day1

• Highlight the folder you just made and click ‘OK’

• The current directory is now the folder you just created
• To see programs outside the current directory, they should be in
the Path. Use File-> Set Path to add folders to the path
 Customization
• File  Preferences
 Allows you personalize your MATLAB experience
 MATLAB Basics

• MATLAB can be thought of as a super-powerful

graphing calculator

 With many more buttons (built-in functions)

• In addition it is a programming language

 MATLAB is an interpreted language, like Java
 Commands executed line by line
 Help/Docs

• help
 The most important function for learning MATLAB on
your own
• To get info on how to use a function:
» help sin
 Help lists related functions at the bottom and links to
the doc
• To get a nicer version of help with examples and easy-to-
read descriptions:
» doc sin
• To search for a function by specifying keywords:
» doc + Search tab
 Outline

(1) Getting Started

(2) Scripts
(3) Making Variables
(4) Manipulating Variables
(5) Basic Plotting
 Scripts: Overview

• Scripts are
 collection of commands executed in sequence
 written in the MATLAB editor
 saved as m-files (.m extension)

• To create an m-file from command-line

» edit helloWorld.m
• or click
 Scripts: the Editor
* Means that it's not saved
Line numbers
m-file path Real-time
Debugging tools error check

Help file

Comments

Possible breakpoints
 Scripts: Some Notes

• COMMENT!
 Anything following a % is seen as a comment
 The first contiguous comment becomes the script's help file
 Comment thoroughly to avoid wasting time later

• Note that scripts are somewhat static, since there is no

input and no explicit output

• All variables created and modified in a script exist in the

workspace even after it has stopped running
 Exercise: Scripts

Make a helloWorld script

• When run, the script should display the following text:
Hello World!
I am going to learn MATLAB!
• Hint: use disp to display strings. Strings are written
between single quotes, like 'This is a string'
 Exercise: Scripts

Make a helloWorld script

• When run, the script should display the following text:
Hello World!
I am going to learn MATLAB!
• Hint: use disp to display strings. Strings are written
between single quotes, like 'This is a string'

• Open the editor and save a script as helloWorld.m. This is

an easy script, containing two lines of code:
» % helloWorld.m
» % my first hello world program in MATLAB

» disp('Hello World!');
» disp('I am going to learn MATLAB!');
 Outline

(1) Getting Started

(2) Scripts
(3) Making Variables
(4) Manipulating Variables
(5) Basic Plotting
 Variable Types
• MATLAB is a weakly typed language
 No need to initialize variables!

• MATLAB supports various types, the most often used are

» 3.84
 64-bit double (default)
» ‘a’
 16-bit char

• Most variables you’ll deal with will be vectors or matrices of

doubles or chars

• Other types are also supported: complex, symbolic, 16-bit

and 8 bit integers, etc. You will be exposed to all these
types through the homework
 Naming variables

• To create a variable, simply assign a value to a name:

» var1=3.14
» myString=‘hello world’

• Variable names
 first character must be a LETTER
 after that, any combination of letters, numbers and _
 CASE SENSITIVE! (var1 is different from Var1)

• Built-in variables. Don’t use these names!

 i and j can be used to indicate complex numbers
 pi has the value 3.1415926…
 ans stores the last unassigned value (like on a calculator)
 Inf and -Inf are positive and negative infinity
 NaN represents ‘Not a Number’
 Scalars

• A variable can be given a value explicitly

» a = 10
 shows up in workspace!

• Or as a function of explicit values and existing variables

» c = 1.3*45-2*a

• To suppress output, end the line with a semicolon

» cooldude = 13/3;
 Arrays

• Like other programming languages, arrays are an

important part of MATLAB
• Two types of arrays

(1) matrix of numbers (either double or complex)

(2) cell array of objects (more advanced data structure)

MATLAB makes vectors easy!

That’s its power!
 Row Vectors

• Row vector: comma or space separated values between

brackets
» row = [1 2 5.4 -6.6]
» row = [1, 2, 5.4, -6.6];

• Command window:

• Workspace:
 Column Vectors

• Column vector: semicolon separated values between

brackets
» column = [4;2;7;4]

• Command window:

• Workspace:
 size & length

• You can tell the difference between a row and a column

vector by:
 Looking in the workspace
 Displaying the variable in the command window
 Using the size function

• To get a vector's length, use the length function

 Matrices

• Make matrices like vectors

1 2
• Element by element a 
» a= [1 2;3 4]; 3 4 

• By concatenating vectors or matrices (dimension matters)

» a = [1 2];
» b = [3 4];
» c = [5;6];

» d = [a;b];
» e = [d c];
» f = [[e e];[a b a]];
» str = ['Hello, I am ' 'John'];
 Strings are character vectors
 save/clear/load
• Use save to save variables to a file
» save myFile a b
 saves variables a and b to the file myfile.mat
 myfile.mat file is saved in the current directory
 Default working directory is
» \MATLAB
 Make sure you’re in the desired folder when saving files. Right
now, we should be in:
» MATLAB\IAPMatlab\day1

• Use clear to remove variables from environment

» clear a b
 look at workspace, the variables a and b are gone

• Use load to load variable bindings into the environment

» load myFile
 look at workspace, the variables a and b are back

• Can do the same for entire environment

» save myenv; clear all; load myenv;
 Exercise: Variables

Get and save the current date and time

 Create a variable start using the function clock
• What is the size of start? Is it a row or column?
• What does start contain? See help clock
• Convert the vector start to a string. Use the function
datestr and name the new variable startString
• Save start and startString into a mat file named
startTime
 Exercise: Variables

Get and save the current date and time

 Create a variable start using the function clock
• What is the size of start? Is it a row or column?
• What does start contain? See help clock
• Convert the vector start to a string. Use the function
datestr and name the new variable startString
• Save start and startString into a mat file named
startTime

» help clock
» start=clock;
» size(start)
» help datestr
» startString=datestr(start);
» save startTime start startString
 Exercise: Variables

Read in and display the current date and time

 In helloWorld.m, read in the variables you just saved using
load
• Display the following text:
I started learning Matlab on *start date and time*
• Hint: use the disp command again, and remember that
strings are just vectors of characters so you can join two
strings by making a row vector with the two strings as sub-
vectors.
 Exercise: Variables

Read in and display the current date and time

 In helloWorld.m, read in the variables you just saved using
load
• Display the following text:
I started learning Matlab on *start date and time*
• Hint: use the disp command again, and remember that
strings are just vectors of characters so you can join two
strings by making a row vector with the two strings as sub-
vectors.

» load startTime
» disp(['I started learning Matlab on ' ...
startString]);
 Outline

(1) Getting Started

(2) Scripts
(3) Making Variables
(4) Manipulating Variables
(5) Basic Plotting
 Basic Scalar Operations
• Arithmetic operations (+,-,*,/)
» 7/45
» (1+i)*(2+i)
» 1 / 0
» 0 / 0

• Exponentiation (^)
» 4^2
» (3+4*j)^2

• Complicated expressions, use parentheses

» ((2+3)*3)^0.1

• Multiplication is NOT implicit given parentheses

» 3(1+0.7) gives an error

• To clear command window

» clc
 Built-in Functions

• MATLAB has an enormous library of built-in functions

• Call using parentheses – passing parameter to function

» sqrt(2)
» log(2), log10(0.23)
» cos(1.2), atan(-.8)
» exp(2+4*i)
» round(1.4), floor(3.3), ceil(4.23)
» angle(i); abs(1+i);
 Exercise: Scalars

You will learn MATLAB at an exponential rate! Add the

following to your helloWorld script:
• Your learning time constant is 1.5 days. Calculate the number of
seconds in 1.5 days and name this variable tau
• This class lasts 5 days. Calculate the number of seconds in 5 days
and name this variable endOfClass
• This equation describes your knowledge as a function of time t:

 t /
k  1 e
• How well will you know MATLAB at endOfClass? Name this
variable knowledgeAtEnd. (use exp)
• Using the value of knowledgeAtEnd, display the phrase:

At the end of 6.094, I will know X% of Matlab

• Hint: to convert a number to a string, use num2str
 Exercise: Scalars

» secPerDay=60*60*24;
» tau=1.5*secPerDay;
» endOfClass=5*secPerDay
» knowledgeAtEnd=1-exp(-endOfClass/tau);
» disp(['At the end of 6.094, I will know ' ...
num2str(knowledgeAtEnd*100) '% of Matlab'])
 Transpose
• The transpose operators turns a column vector into a row
vector and vice versa
» a = [1 2 3 4+i]
» transpose(a)
» a'
» a.'

• The ' gives the Hermitian-transpose, i.e. transposes and

conjugates all complex numbers

• For vectors of real numbers .' and ' give same result
 Addition and Subtraction
• Addition and subtraction are element-wise; sizes must
match (unless one is a scalar):
 12 3 32 11  12   3   9 
 1   1  2 
 2 11 30 32      
 10  13   23
 14 14 2 21      
 0 33
    33

• The following would give an error

» c = row + column
• Use the transpose to make sizes compatible
» c = row’ + column
» c = row + column’
• Can sum up or multiply elements of vector
» s=sum(row);
» p=prod(row);
 Element-Wise Functions

• All the functions that work on scalars also work on vectors

» t = [1 2 3];
» f = exp(t);
 is the same as
» f = [exp(1) exp(2) exp(3)];

• If in doubt, check a function’s help file to see if it handles

vectors elementwise

• Operators (* / ^) have two modes of operation

 element-wise
 standard
 Operators: element-wise

• To do element-wise operations, use the dot: . (.*, ./, .^).

BOTH dimensions must match (unless one is scalar)!
» a=[1 2 3];b=[4;2;1];
» a.*b, a./b, a.^b  all errors
» a.*b', a./b’, a.^(b’)  all valid

 4 
111    
12 3 123 
 .*  
 1 2 3 .* 2  ERROR 2
 2 2
 12 3 2
  4 6

1  
333
 
  
 
12 3
 369
 

1   4   4 .*
3333 33
 2 .*  2    4
     
 3 1   3
1 2 12
22
3 1.* 3 1  3 1 3 .^2 2 2
 4 3 4
Canbeanydimension
 Operators: standard

• Multiplication can be done in a standard way or element-wise

• Standard multiplication (*) is either a dot-product or an outer-
product
 Remember from linear algebra: inner dimensions must MATCH!!
• Standard exponentiation (^) can only be done on square matrices
or scalars
• Left and right division (/ \) is same as multiplying by inverse
 Our recommendation: just multiply by inverse (more on this
later)

 4 
12 
12
12 
111  
123 3 6 9
 1 2 3 * 2   11 
34



^2
34

*

34




2
 2 
2*

 
123


61218

1  M
us
tbes
qua
retod
opo
wer
s 
333
 
 

123
 91
 827

1  3* 3  1  1  1 *
3333 33
 Exercise: Vector Operations

Calculate how many seconds elapsed since the start of

class
• In helloWorld.m, make variables called secPerMin,
secPerHour, secPerDay, secPerMonth (assume 30.5 days
per month), and secPerYear (12 months in year), which
have the number of seconds in each time period.
• Assemble a row vector called secondConversion that has
elements in this order: secPerYear, secPerMonth,
secPerDay, secPerHour, secPerMinute, 1.
• Make a currentTime vector by using clock
• Compute elapsedTime by subtracting currentTime from
start
• Compute t (the elapsed time in seconds) by taking the dot
product of secondConversion and elapsedTime (transpose
one of them to get the dimensions right)
 Exercise: Vector Operations

» secPerMin=60;
» secPerHour=60*secPerMin;
» secPerDay=24*secPerHour;
» secPerMonth=30.5*secPerDay;
» secPerYear=12*secPerMonth;
» secondConversion=[secPerYear secPerMonth ...
secPerDay secPerHour secPerMin 1];
» currentTime=clock;
» elapsedTime=currentTime-start;
» t=secondConversion*elapsedTime';
 Exercise: Vector Operations

Display the current state of your knowledge

• Calculate currentKnowledge using the same relationship as
before, and the t we just calculated:
 t /
k  1 e
• Display the following text:

At this time, I know X% of Matlab

 Exercise: Vector Operations

Display the current state of your knowledge

• Calculate currentKnowledge using the same relationship as
before, and the t we just calculated:
 t /
k  1 e
• Display the following text:

At this time, I know X% of Matlab

» currentKnowledge=1-exp(-t/tau);
» disp(['At this time, I know ' ...
num2str(currentKnowledge*100) '% of Matlab']);
 Automatic Initialization

• Initialize a vector of ones, zeros, or random numbers

» o=ones(1,10)
 row vector with 10 elements, all 1
» z=zeros(23,1)
 column vector with 23 elements, all 0
» r=rand(1,45)
 row vector with 45 elements (uniform [0,1])
» n=nan(1,69)
 row vector of NaNs (useful for representing uninitialized
variables)
The general function call is:
var=zeros(M,N);

Number of rows Number of columns

 Automatic Initialization

• To initialize a linear vector of values use linspace

» a=linspace(0,10,5)
 starts at 0, ends at 10 (inclusive), 5 values

• Can also use colon operator (:)

» b=0:2:10
 starts at 0, increments by 2, and ends at or before 10
 increment can be decimal or negative
» c=1:5
 if increment isn’t specified, default is 1

• To initialize logarithmically spaced values use logspace

 similar to linspace, but see help
 Exercise: Vector Functions

Calculate your learning trajectory

• In helloWorld.m, make a linear time vector tVec that has
10,000 samples between 0 and endOfClass
• Calculate the value of your knowledge (call it
knowledgeVec) at each of these time points using the same
equation as before:

 t /
k  1 e
 Exercise: Vector Functions

Calculate your learning trajectory

• In helloWorld.m, make a linear time vector tVec that has
10,000 samples between 0 and endOfClass
• Calculate the value of your knowledge (call it
knowledgeVec) at each of these time points using the same
equation as before:

 t /
k  1 e
» tVec = linspace(0,endOfClass,10000);
» knowledgeVec=1-exp(-tVec/tau);
 Vector Indexing

• Matlab indexing starts with 1, not 0

 We will not respond to any emails where this is the
problem.
• a(n) returns the nth element

a   13 5 9 10

a(1) a(2) a(3) a(4)

• The index argument can be a vector. In this case, each

element is looked up individually, and returned as a vector
of the same size as the index vector.
» x=[12 13 5 8];
» a=x(2:3); a=[13 5];
» b=x(1:end-1); b=[12 13 5];
 Matrix Indexing

• Matrices can be indexed in two ways

 using subscripts (row and column)
 using linear indices (as if matrix is a vector)
• Matrix indexing: subscripts or linear indices

b(1,1) 14 33 b(1,2) b(1) 14 33 b(3)

b(2,1) 9 8 b(2,2) b(2) 9 8 b(4)
   

• Picking submatrices
» A = rand(5) % shorthand for 5x5 matrix
» A(1:3,1:2) % specify contiguous submatrix
» A([1 5 3], [1 4]) % specify rows and columns
 Advanced Indexing 1

• To select rows or columns of a matrix, use the :

12 5 
c 
 2 13 

» d=c(1,:); d=[12 5];

» e=c(:,2); e=[5;13];
» c(2,:)=[3 6]; %replaces second row of c
 Advanced Indexing 2

• MATLAB contains functions to help you find desired values

within a vector or matrix
» vec = [5 3 1 9 7]

• To get the minimum value and its index:

» [minVal,minInd] = min(vec);
 max works the same way

• To find any the indices of specific values or ranges

» ind = find(vec == 9);
» ind = find(vec > 2 & vec < 6);
 find expressions can be very complex, more on this later

• To convert between subscripts and indices, use ind2sub,

and sub2ind. Look up help to see how to use them.
 Exercise: Indexing

When will you know 50% of Matlab?

• First, find the index where knowledgeVec is closest to 0.5.
Mathematically, what you want is the index where the
value of
knowledgeVec  0.5 is at a minimum (use abs and
min).
• Next, use that index to look up the corresponding time in
tVec and name this time halfTime.
I will know half of Matlab after X days
• Finally, display the string:
Convert halfTime to days by using secPerDay
 Exercise: Indexing

When will you know 50% of Matlab?

• First, find the index where knowledgeVec is closest to 0.5.
Mathematically, what you want is the index where the
value of
knowledgeVec  0.5 is at a minimum (use abs and
min).
• Next, use that index to look up the corresponding time in
tVec and name this time halfTime.
I will know half of Matlab after X days
• Finally, display the string:
Convert halfTime to days by using secPerDay

» [val,ind]=min(abs(knowledgeVec-0.5));
» halfTime=tVec(ind);
» disp(['I will know half of Matlab after ' ...
num2str(halfTime/secPerDay) ' days']);
 Outline

(1) Getting Started

(2) Scripts
(3) Making Variables
(4) Manipulating Variables
(5) Basic Plotting

Did everyone sign in?

 Plotting

• Example
» x=linspace(0,4*pi,10);
» y=sin(x);

• Plot values against their index

» plot(y);
• Usually we want to plot y versus x
» plot(x,y);

MATLAB makes visualizing data

fun and easy!
 What does plot do?
• plot generates dots at each (x,y) pair and then connects the dots
with a line
• To make plot of a function look smoother, evaluate at more points

» x=linspace(0,4*pi,1000);
» plot(x,sin(x));
• x and y vectors must be same size or else you’ll get an error
» plot([1 2], [1 2 3])
 error!!
1 1

10 x values: 1000 x values:

0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0 0

-0.2 -0.2

-0.4 -0.4

-0.6 -0.6

-0.8 -0.8

-1 -1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
 Exercise: Plotting

Plot the learning trajectory

• In helloWorld.m, open a new figure (use figure)
• Plot the knowledge trajectory using tVec and
knowledgeVec. When plotting, convert tVec to days by
using secPerDay
• Zoom in on the plot to verify that halfTime was calculated
correctly
 Exercise: Plotting

Plot the learning trajectory

• In helloWorld.m, open a new figure (use figure)
• Plot the knowledge trajectory using tVec and
knowledgeVec. When plotting, convert tVec to days by
using secPerDay
• Zoom in on the plot to verify that halfTime was calculated
correctly

» figure
» plot(tVec/secPerDay, knowledgeVec);
 End of Lecture 1

(1) Getting Started

(2) Scripts
(3) Making Variables
(4) Manipulating Variables
(5) Basic Plotting

Hope that wasn’t too much!!