MATLAB - Overview

MATLAB (matrix laboratory) is a fourth-generation high-level programming language and interactive environment for numerical computation, visualization and programming.

MATLAB - Environment Setup

Try it Option Online

You really do not need to set up your own environment to start learning MATLAB Octave. Reason is very simple, we already have set up MATLAB Octave environment online, so that you can execute all the available examples online at the same time when you are doing your theory work.

MATLAB - Basic Syntax

MATLAB environment behaves like a super-complex calculator. You can enter commands at the >> command prompt.
MATLAB is an interpreted environment. In other words, you give a command and MATLAB executes it right away.

MATLAB - Variables

In MATLAB environment, every variable is an array or matrix.
You can assign variables in a simple way. For example,

x = 3        % defining x and initializing it with a value

MATLAB will execute the above statement and return the following result −

x = 3

MATLAB - Commands

MATLAB is an interactive program for numerical computation and data visualization. You can enter a command by typing it at the MATLAB prompt '>>' on the Command Window.
In this section, we will provide lists of commonly used general MATLAB commands.

MATLAB - M-Files

So far, we have used MATLAB environment as a calculator. However, MATLAB is also a powerful programming language, as well as an interactive computational environment.
In previous chapters, you have learned how to enter commands from the MATLAB command prompt.

MATLAB - Data Types

MATLAB does not require any type declaration or dimension statements. Whenever MATLAB encounters a new variable name, it creates the variable and allocates appropriate memory space.

MATLAB - Operators

An operator is a symbol that tells the compiler to perform specific mathematical or logical manipulations. MATLAB is designed to operate primarily on whole matrices and arrays. Therefore, operators in MATLAB work both on scalar and non-scalar data. MATLAB allows the following types of elementary operations −

MATLAB - Decision Making

Decision making structures require that the programmer should specify one or more conditions to be evaluated or tested by the program, along with a statement or statements to be executed if the condition is determined to be true, and optionally, other statements to be executed if the condition is determined to be false.

MATLAB - Matrix

A matrix is a two-dimensional array of numbers.
In MATLAB, you create a matrix by entering elements in each row as comma or space delimited numbers and using semicolons to mark the end of each row.
For example, let us create a 4-by-5 matrix a −

MATLAB - Loop Types

There may be a situation when you need to execute a block of code several number of times. In general, statements are executed sequentially. The first statement in a function is executed first, followed by the second, and so on.

MATLAB - Vectors

A vector is a one-dimensional array of numbers. MATLAB allows creating two types of vectors −

• Row vectors
• Column vectors

MATLAB - Arrays

All variables of all data types in MATLAB are multidimensional arrays. A vector is a one-dimensional array and a matrix is a two-dimensional array.
We have already discussed vectors and matrices. In this chapter, we will discuss multidimensional arrays. However, before that, let us discuss some special types of arrays.

MATLAB - Colon Notation

The colon(:) is one of the most useful operator in MATLAB. It is used to create vectors, subscript arrays, and specify for iterations.
If you want to create a row vector, containing integers from 1 to 10, you write −

MATLAB - Numbers

MATLAB supports various numeric classes that include signed and unsigned integers and single-precision and double-precision floating-point numbers. By default, MATLAB stores all numeric values as double-precision floating point numbers.

MATLAB - Strings

Creating a character string is quite simple in MATLAB. In fact, we have used it many times. For example, you type the following in the command prompt −

MATLAB - Functions

A function is a group of statements that together perform a task. In MATLAB, functions are defined in separate files. The name of the file and of the function should be the same.

MATLAB - Data Import

Importing data in MATLAB means loading data from an external file. The importdata function allows loading various data files of different formats. It has the following five forms −

MATLAB - Data Output

Data export (or output) in MATLAB means to write into files. MATLAB allows you to use your data in another application that reads ASCII files. For this, MATLAB provides several data export options.
You can create the following type of files:

MATLAB - Plotting

To plot the graph of a function, you need to take the following steps −

• Define x, by specifying the range of values for the variable x, for which the function is to be plotted
• Define the function, y = f(x)
• Call the plot command, as plot(x, y)