From the Preface:MATLAB is a high-level language and interactive environment for numerical computation, visualization, and programming. Using MATLAB, you can analyze data, develop algorithms, and create models and applications. The language, tools, and built-in math functions enable you to explore multiple approaches and reach a solution faster than with spreadsheets or traditional programming languages, such as C/C++ or Java®. |
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That statement encapsulates the view of The MathWorks, Inc., the developer of MATLAB. MATLAB 8 is an ambitious program. It contains hundreds of commands to do mathematics. You can use it to graph functions, solve equations, perform statistical tests, and do much more. It is a high-level programming language that can communicate with its cousins, e.g., FORTRAN and C. You can produce sound and animate graphics. You can do simulations and modeling (especially if you have access not just to basic MATLAB but also to its accessory Simulink®). You can prepare materials for export to the internet. In addition, you can use MATLAB to combine mathematical computations with text and graphics in order to produce a polished, integrated, interactive document.
A program this sophisticated contains many features and options. There are literally hundreds of useful commands at your disposal. The MATLAB help documentation contains thousands of entries. The standard references, whether the MathWorks User's Guide for the product, or any of our competitors, contain a myriad of tables describing an endless stream of commands, options and features that the user might be expected to learn or access.
MATLAB is more than a fancy calculator; it is an extremely useful and versatile tool. Even if you only know a little about MATLAB, you can use it to accomplish wonderful things. The hard part, however, is figuring out which of the hundreds of commands, scores of help pages, and thousands of items of documentation you need to look at to start using it quickly and effectively.
That's where we come in.
You might not be a MATLAB expert when you finish this book, but you will be prepared to become one - if that's what you want. We figure you're probably more interested in being an expert at your own specialty, whether that's finance or physics, psychology or engineering. You want to use MATLAB the way we do, as a tool. This book is designed to help you become a proficient MATLAB user as quickly as possible, so you can get on with the business at hand.
You can read through this Guide to learn MATLAB on your own. If your employer (or your professor) has plopped you in front of a computer with MATLAB and told you to learn how to use it, then you'll find the book particularly useful. If you are teaching or taking a course in which you want to use MATLAB as a tool to explore another subject - whether in mathematics, science, engineering, business, or statistics - this book will make a perfect supplement.
As mentioned, we wrote this Guide for use with MATLAB 8. If you plan to continue using MATLAB 7, however, you can still profit from this book. Virtually all of the material on MATLAB commands in this book applies to both versions. The primary features of MATLAB 8 not found in earlier versions have to do with the Desktop interface, the Editor/Debugger, and interaction between MATLAB and MuPAD in the Symbolic Math Toolbox.
The core of this book consists of about 65 pages: Chapters 1-4, and the beginning of Chapter 5. Read that much and you'll have a good grasp of the fundamentals of MATLAB. Read the rest - the remainder of the Graphics chapter as well as the chapters on Programming, Publishing, MuPAD, Simulink, GUIs, Applications, Troubleshooting, and the Glossary - and you'll know enough to do a great deal with MATLAB.
Chapter 2, MATLAB Basics, shows you how to do elementary mathematics using MATLAB. This chapter contains the most essential MATLAB commands.
Chapter 3, Interacting with MATLAB, contains an introduction to the MATLAB Desktop interface. This chapter will introduce you to the basic window features of the application, to the small program files (M-files) that you will use to make most effective use of the software, and to a few methods for presenting the results of your MATLAB sessions. After completing this chapter, you'll have a better appreciation of the breadth described in the quote that opens this Preface.
Practice Set A, Algebra and Arithmetic, contains some simple problems for practicing your newly acquired MATLAB skills. Solutions are presented at the end of the book.
Chapter 4, Beyond the Basics, contains an explanation of some of the finer points that are essential for using MATLAB effectively.
Chapter 5, MATLAB Graphics, contains a more detailed look at many of the MATLAB commands for producing graphics.
Chapter 6, MATLAB Programming, introduces you to the programming features ofMATLAB. This chapter is designed to be useful both to the novice programmer and to the experienced programmer.
Chapter 7, Publishing and M-Books, contains an overview of the word-processing and desktop-publishing features available in MATLAB 8.
Practice Set B, Calculus, Graphics, and Linear Algebra, gives you another chance to practice what you've just learned. As before, solutions are provided at the end of the book.
Chapter 8, MuPAD, describes the symbolic mathematics language MuPAD, which is embedded in the Symbolic Math Toolbox. MuPAD can be used as a stand-alone package for doing a large number of calculations, some of which cannot easily be done with MATLAB directly.
Chapter 9, Simulink, describes the MATLAB companion software Simulink, a graphically oriented package for modeling, simulating, and analyzing dynamical systems. Many of the calculations that can be done with MATLAB can be done equally well with Simulink.
Chapter 10, GUIs, contains an introduction to the construction and deployment of Graphical User Interfaces, that is GUIs, using MATLAB. This chapter is a little more advanced than most of the others.
Chapter 11, Applications, contains examples, from many different fields, of solutions of real-world problems using MATLAB, Simulink, and MuPAD.
Practice Set C, Developing Your MATLAB Skills, contains practice problems whose solutions use the methods and techniques you learned in Chapters 8-11.
Chapter 12, Troubleshooting, is the place to turn when anything goes wrong. Many common problems can be resolved by reading (and rereading) the advice in this chapter.
Next, we have Solutions to the Practice Sets, which contains solutions to all the problems from the three Practice Sets. The Glossary contains short descriptions (with examples) of many MATLAB commands and objects. Though not a complete reference, the Glossary is a handy guide to the most important features of MATLAB. Finally, there is a comprehensive Index.