Tutorial on Matlab Basics

Matlab Basics
• To start Matlab: Select MATLAB on the menu (if
using Windows). Type “matlab” on the
command line (if using Linux).
 Getting Help and
Looking Up Functions
• To get help on a function type “help function_name”,
e.g., “help plot”.
• To find a topic, type “lookfor topic”, e.g., “lookfor matrix”
 Matlab’s Workspace
• who, whos – current workspace vars.
• save – save workspace vars to *.mat file.
• load – load variables from *.mat file.
• clear all – clear workspace vars.
• close all – close all figures
• clc – clear screen
• clf – clear figure
 Basic Commands
• % used to denote a comment
• ; suppresses display of value (when
placed at end of a statement)
• ... continues the statement on next line
• eps machine epsilon
• inf infinity
• NaN not-a number, e.g., 0/0.
 Numbers
• To change format of numbers:
format long, format short, etc.
See “help format”.
• Mathematical functions: sqrt(x), exp(x),
cos(x), sin(x), sum(x), etc.
• Operations: +, -, *, /
• Constants: pi, exp(1), etc.
 Examples:
5+5
3^2
sin(pi /2)
732 * 20.3
============
x = 3;
y=x+5
============
A = 1:10;
S = sum(A)
=============
 Command Purpose

clc Clears command window.

clear Removes variables from memory.

exist Checks for existence of file or variable.

global Declares variables to be global.

help Searches for a help topic.

lookfor Searches help entries for a keyword.

quit Stops MATLAB.

who Lists current variables.

whos Lists current variables (long display).

 Command Purpose

disp Displays contents of an array or string.

fscanf Read formatted data from a file.

format Controls screen-display format.

fprintf Performs formatted writes to screen or file.

input Displays prompts and waits for input.

; Suppresses screen printing.

Format Code Purpose
%s Format as a string.
%d Format as an integer.
%f Format as a floating point value.
%e Format as a floating point value in scientific
notation.
%g Format in the most compact form: %f or
%e.
\n Insert a new line in the output string.
\t Insert a tab in the output string.
 Data Types Available in MATLAB
Sr.No. Data Type & Description

1 int8
8-bit signed integer

2 uint8
8-bit unsigned integer

3 int16
16-bit signed integer

4 uint16
16-bit unsigned integer

5 int32
32-bit signed integer

6 uint32
32-bit unsigned integer

7 int64
64-bit signed integer

8 uint64
64-bit unsigned integer

9 single
single precision numerical data

10 double
double precision numerical data

11 logical
logical values of 1 or 0, represent true and false respectively

12 char
character data (strings are stored as vector of characters)

13 cell array
array of indexed cells, each capable of storing an array of a different dimension and data type

14 structure
C-like structures, each structure having named fields capable of storing an array of a different
dimension and data type

15 function handle
pointer to a function

16 user classes
objects constructed from a user-defined class

17 java classes
objects constructed from a Java class
 Example
• str = 'Hello World!'
n = 2345
d = double(n)
un = uint32(789.50)
rn = 5678.92347
c = int32(rn)
=================
 Operator Purpose

+ Plus; addition operator.

- Minus; subtraction operator.

* Scalar and matrix multiplication operator.

.* Array multiplication operator.

^ Scalar and matrix exponentiation operator.

.^ Array exponentiation operator.

\ Left-division operator.

/ Right-division operator.

.\ Array left-division operator.

./ Array right-division operator.

: Colon; generates regularly spaced elements and represents an entire row or column.

() Parentheses; encloses function arguments and array indices; overrides precedence.

[] Brackets; enclosures array elements.

. Decimal point.

… Ellipsis; line-continuation operator

, Comma; separates statements and elements in a row

; Semicolon; separates columns and suppresses display.

% Percent sign; designates a comment and specifies formatting.

_ Quote sign and transpose operator.

._ Nonconjugated transpose operator.

= Assignment operator.
Special Variables and Constants
MATLAB supports the following special variables and constants −

Name Meaning

ans Most recent answer.

eps Accuracy of floating-point precision.
i,j The imaginary unit √-1.
Inf Infinity.
NaN Undefined numerical result (not a number).
pi The number π
 Arrays and Matrices
• v = [-2 3 0 4.5 -1.5]; % length 5 row
vector.
• v = v’; % transposes v.
• v(1); % first element of v.
• v(2:4); % entries 2-4 of v.
• v([3,5]); % returns entries 3 & 5.
• v=[4:-1:2]; % same as v=[4 3 2];
• a=1:3; b=2:3; c=[a b]; 🡪 c = [1 2 3 2 3];
 Arrays and Matrices (2)
• x = linspace(-pi,pi,10); % creates 10
linearly-spaced elements from –pi to pi.
• logspace is similar.
• A = [1 2 3; 4 5 6]; % creates 2x3 matrix
• A(1,2) % the element in row 1, column 2.
• A(:,2) % the second column.
• A(2,:) % the second row.
 Arrays and Matrices (3)
• A+B, A-B, 2*A, A*B % matrix addition,
matrix subtraction, scalar multiplication,
matrix multiplication
• A.*B % element-by-element mult.
• A’ % transpose of A (complex-
conjugate transpose)
• det(A) % determinant of A
 Creating special matrices
• diag(v) % change a vector v to a
diagonal matrix.
• diag(A) % get diagonal of A.
• eye(n) % identity matrix of size n.
• zeros(m,n) % m-by-n zero matrix.
• ones(m,n)% m*n matrix with all ones.
 Logical Conditions
• ==, <, >, <=, >=, ~= (not equal), ~ (not)
• & (element-wise logical and), | (or)
• find(‘condition’) – Return indices of A’s
elements that satisfies the condition.
• Example: A = [7 6 5; 4 3 2];
find (‘A == 3’); --> returns 5.
 Solving Linear Equations
• A = [1 2 3; 2 5 3; 1 0 8];
• b = [2; 1; 0];
• x = inv(A)*b; % solves Ax=b if A is invertible.
(Note: This is a BAD way to solve the
equations!!! It’s unstable and inefficient.)
• x = A\b; % solves Ax = b.
(Note: This way is better, but we’ll learn how to
program methods to solve Ax=b.)
Do NOT use either of these commands in your
codes!
 More matrix/vector operations
• length(v) % determine length of vector.
• size(A) % determine size of matrix.
• rank(A) % determine rank of matrix.
• norm(A), norm(A,1), norm(A,inf)
% determine 2-norm, 1-norm,
and infinity-norm of A.
• norm(v) % compute vector 2-norm.
 For loops
• x = 0;
for i=1:2:5 % start at 1, increment by 2
x = x+i; % end with 5.
end

This computes x = 0+1+3+5=9.

 While loops
• x=7;
while (x > = 0)
x = x-2;
end;

This computes x = 7-2-2-2-2 = -1.

 If statements
• if (x == 3)
disp(‘The value of x is 3.’);
elseif (x == 5)
disp(‘The value of x is 5.’);
else
disp(‘The value of x is not 3 or 5.’);
end;
 Switch statement
• switch face
case {1}
disp(‘Rolled a 1’);
case {2}
disp(‘Rolled a 2’);
otherwise
disp(‘Rolled a number >= 3’);
end

• NOTE: Unlike C, ONLY the SWITCH statement between

the matching case and the next case, otherwise, or end
are executed. (So breaks are unnecessary.)
 Break statements
• break – terminates execution of for and
while loops. For nested loops, it exits the
innermost loop only.
 Vectorization
• Because Matlab is an interpreted
language, i.e., it is not compiled before
execution, loops run slowly.
• Vectorized code runs faster in Matlab.
• Example: x=[1 2 3];
for i=1:3 Vectorized:
x(i) = x(i)+5; VS. x = x+5;
end;
 Graphics
• x = linspace(-1,1,10);
• y = sin(x);
• plot(x,y); % plots y vs. x.
• plot(x,y,’k-’); % plots a black line
of y vs. x.
• hold on; % put several plots in the
same figure window.
• figure; % open new figure window.
 Graphics (2)
• subplot(m,n,1) % Makes an mxn array
for plots. Will place plot in 1st position.

Here m = 2 and n = 3.
 Graphics (3)
• plot3(x,y,z) % plot 2D function.
• mesh(x_ax,y_ax,z_mat) – surface plot.
• contour(z_mat) – contour plot of z.
• axis([xmin xmax ymin ymax]) – change
axes
• title(‘My title’); - add title to figure;
• xlabel, ylabel – label axes.
• legend – add key to figure.
Examples of Matlab Plots
Examples of Matlab Plots
Examples of Matlab Plots
 File Input/Output
• fid = fopen(‘in.dat’,’rt’); % open text
file for reading.
• v = fscanf(fid,’%lg’,10); % read 10
doubles from the text file.
• fclose(fid); % close the file.
• help textread; % formatted read.
• help fprintf; % formatted write.
 Example Data File
Sally Type1 12.34 45 Yes
Joe Type2 23.54 60 No
Bill Type1 34.90 12 No
 Read Entire Dataset
fid = fopen(‘mydata.dat’, ‘r’); % open file
for reading.

% Read-in data from mydata.dat.

[names,types,x,y,answer] =
textread(fid,’%s%s%f%d%s’);

fclose(fid); % close file.

 Read Partial Dataset
fid = fopen(‘mydata.dat’, ‘r’); % open file
for reading.

% Read-in first column of data from mydata.dat.

[names] = textread(fid,’%s %*s %*f %*d %*s’);

fclose(fid); % close file.

 Read 1 Line of Data
fid = fopen(‘mydata.dat’, ‘r’); % open file
% for reading.
% Read-in one line of data corresponding
% to Joe’s entry.
[name,type,x,y,answer] =…
textread(fid,’%s%s%f%d%s’,1,…
’headerlines’,1);
fclose(fid); % close file.
 Writing formatted data.
% open file for writing.
fid = fopen(‘out.txt’,’w’);

% Write out Joe’s info to file.

fprintf(fid,’%s %s %f %d…
%s\n’,name,type,x,y,answer);

fclose(fid); % close the file.

 Keeping a record
• To keep a record of your session, use the diary
command:

diary filename
x=3
diary off

This will keep a diary called filename showing the

value of x (your work for this session).
 Timing
• Use tic, toc to determine the running time
of an algorithm as follows:

tic
commands…
toc

This will give the elapsed time.

 Scripts and Functions
• Two kinds of M-files:

- Scripts, which do not accept input

arguments or return output arguments.
They operate on data in the workspace.

- Functions, which can accept input

arguments and return output
arguments. Internal variables are
local to the function.
 M-file functions
• function [area,circum] = circle(r)
% [area, circum] = circle(r) returns the
% area and circumference of a circle
% with radius r.
area = pi*r^2;
circum = 2*pi*r;

• Save function in circle.m.

 M-file scripts
• r = 7;
[area,circum] = circle(r);
% call our circle function.
disp([‘The area of a circle having…
radius ‘ num2str(r) ‘ is ‘…
num2str(area)]);

• Save the file as myscript.m.

 Tutorial sources
• http://docplayer.net/15715694-Introduction
-to-matlab-basics-reference-from-azerniko
v-sergei-mesergei-tx-technion-ac-il.html
• Tutorial by Azernikov Sergei.
 Interactive Example (1)
• Write a Matlab program to compute the
following sum
∑1/i2, for i=1, 2, …, 10
two different ways:
1. 1/1+1/4+…+1/100
2. 1/100+1/81+…+1/1.
 Solution
% Forward summation
forwardsum = 0;
for i=1:10
forwardsum = forwardsum+1/(i^2);
end;

% Backward summation
backwardsum = 0;
for i=10:-1:1
backwardsum = backwardsum+1/(i^2);
end;
 Interactive Example (2)
• Write a Matlab function to multiply two
n-by-n matrices A and B. (Do not use
built-in functions.)
 Solution
function [C] = matrix_multiply(A,B,n)
C = zeros(n,n);
for i=1:n
Can this code be written so that it
for j=1:n
runs faster?
for k=1:n
C(i,j) = C(i,j) + A(i,k)*B(k,j);
end;
end; Hint: Use vectorization.
end;
 Solution
• Script to use for testing:

n = 10;
A = rand(n,n);
B = rand(n,n);
C = matrix_multiply(A,B,n);