1.3 Objectives: i) To gain basic knowledge about the MATLAB. ii) To know about different window of MATLAB. iii) To know how to plot in MATALAB 1.4 Theory MATLAB stands for Matrix Laboratory. It is a high-performance language that is used for technical computing. It was developed by Cleve Molar of the company MathWorks.Inc in the year 1984.It is written in C, C++, Java. It allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions, implementation of algorithms and creation of user interfaces.
Fig-1.1: The graphical interface to the MATLAB
1.4.1 Starting MATLAB It is both a programming language as well as a programming environment. It allows the computation of statements in the command window itself. 1.4.1.1 Command Window In this window one must type and immediately execute the statements, as it requires quick prototyping. These statements cannot be saved. Thus, this is can be used for small, easily executable programs. 1.4.1.2 Editor (Script) In this window one can execute larger programs with multiple statements, and complex functions These can be saved and are done with the file extension ‘.m ‘ 1.4.1.3 Workspace In this window the values of the variables that are created in the course of the program (in the editor) are displayed. 1.4.1.4 Command History window This window displays a log of statements that you ran in the current and previous MATLAB sessions. The Command History lists the time and date of each session in the short date format for your operating system, followed by the statements from that session.This window displays the exact location(path) of the program file being created.
1.4.2 Basic Functions in MATLAB
Function Description
The values or the text printed within single quotes is
disp() displayed on the output screen
clear To clear all variables
close all To close all graphics window
clc To clear the command window
exp(x) To compute the exponential value of x to the base e
abs(x) To compute the absolute value of x
sqrt(x) To compute the square root of x
log(x) To compute the logarithmic value of x to the base e
log10(x) To compute the logarithmic value of x to the base 10
rem(x, y) To compute the remainder of x/y
sin(x) To compute the sine of x
cos(x) To compute the cosine of x
tan(x) To compute the tangent of x
atan2(x, To compute the arctangent or inverse of y/x y) 1.4.3 Writing a MATLAB Program Using Command Window: Only one statement can be typed and executed at a time. It executes the statement when the enter key is pressed. This is mostly used for simple calculations. Note: ans is a default variable created by MATLAB that stores the output of the given computation. Using Editor: Multiple lines of code can be written here and only after pressing the run button (or F5) will the code be executed. It is always a good practice to write clc, clear and close all in the beginning of the program.Note: Statements ending with a semicolon will not be displayed in the command window, however, their values will be displayed in the workspace. Any statement followed by % in MATLAB is considered as a comment Vector Operations: Operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division can be done using a single command instead of multiple loops. 1.4.4 Plotting in MATLAB The MATLAB graphics system consists of high-level commands for two-dimensional and three-dimensional data visualization, image processing, animation, and presentation graphics. It also includes low-level commands that allows to fully customize the appearance of graphics as well as to build complete Graphical User Interfaces. To plot a function y=x.^2-4*x-10 required MATLAB code is clc clear all x=-10:1:10; y=x.^2-4*x-10; plot(x,y) grid on
Fig-1.2:Graphical representation of the function
Various line types, plot symbols and colors may be obtained with plot(X,Y,S) where S is a character string made from one element from any or all the following 3 columns:
b blue . point - solid
g green o circle : dotted r red x x-mark -. dashdot c cyan + plus -- dashed m magenta * star (none) no line y yellow s square k black d diamond w white v triangle (down) ^ triangle (up) < triangle (left) > triangle (right)
1.5 Discussion & Conclusion
From this experiment,the featured of MATLAB was familiarized with different window and their working principles.Different functions that are used in MATLAB also familiarized.In this experiment the ploting method in MALAB was introduced and a function was plotted. Various line types, plot symbols and colors also introduced.
