I.1 What is MATLAB?

I.1.1 Introduction
MATLAB stands for matrix (MAT) laboratory (LAB). It is a high performance language for
scientific computing. MATLAB integrates numerical computation, visualization, and
programming in an easy-to-use environment where problems and solutions are expressed in
familiar mathematical notations. With its interactive capabilities, you can solve many numerical
problems in a fraction of the time it would take to write a program in a language such as BASIC,
FORTRAN, or C. With MATLAB, you can develop new applications without writing a single
line of low-level computer code.

I.1.2 Starting and Ending a MATLAB Session

To start MATLAB on a PC or Macintosh (Mac), double-click on the MATLAB icon. To start
MATLAB on a UNIX system, type “matlab” at the operating system prompt.

To quit MATLAB at any time, type “quit” at the MATLAB prompt. On both the PC and the
Mac, you have the option to exit or quit from the file menu.

Remember

MATLAB reacts to your command only after the return or enter key is pressed.

I.1.3 MATLAB Windows

The Command Window

When you start MATLAB, the Command Window opens by default. The name “MATLAB
Command Window” appears at the top section of the MATLAB Window. In this window, you
communicate with the MATLAB interpreter. The MATLAB interpreter displays a prompt ( >> )
indicating that it is ready to accept commands from you.
For example, to enter a 1 ✖ 5 vector, you can enter the following command:

>>x = [1 2 3 4 5]

MATLAB responds:

>> x =

1
 1 2 3 4 5
>>

To find the dimension of x, you can use the size command. . .

>> size(x)

MATLAB responds:

ans =

1 5
>>

indicating that x is a vector with 1 row and 5 columns.

Remember

MATLAB is case sensitive. “X” and “x” are distinctly different variables.

The icons at the top of the Command Window can be used for managing files, workspace,
editing, and getting online help.

Figure Windows
A figure window is used by MATLAB to display graphs. The number of figure windows
allowed in MATLAB depends on the amount of available memory in your system. Whenever
you ask MATLAB to plot a function for you, it automatically opens a figure window and plots
the desired function in that window. If you are interested in opening several figure windows, you
can do so by typing:

>>figure (x)

where x is the number assigned to the figure window. This number will appear in the title bar of
the figure window.

For example, if you are interested in seeing two plots in two different windows, you can type

>> figure (1)

2
which opens Figure No. 1 and

>>figure (2)

which opens Figure No. 2. The size and location of these windows can be easily
modified. You can move a window by clicking on the title bar and dragging it to a desired
location. You resize a figure window by moving the mouse pointer to the edge/corner of the
window until the pointer becomes a “resize handle.” Then you drag in the desired direction and
the window size adjusts accordingly.

We will discuss more windows in Chapters 4, 5, and 6.

I.1.4 What can MATLAB do for You ?

MATLAB provides the user with a set of high-level numerical and graphical routines.
The routines are written in C code and are optimized for high performance. Typical use of these
routines include:

Mathematics and computations

Algorithm development
Modeling, simulation, and prototyping
Data analysis
Simulation
Visualization
Scientific and engineering graphics
Application development

The basic data element in MATLAB is an array that does not require dimensioning.

This feature of MATLAB allows you to solve problems that can be formulated with a matrix or a
vector in a much faster time than it would take to write a program in C, FORTRAN, or BASIC.
For example, you can solve for the roots of the following polynomial:

f ( x ) = x 5 + 2 x 4 + 5x 3 + 12 x 2 + 5x − 15

in two simple steps. Step 1 is to tell MATLAB which polynomial you want to solve. This is done
by typing the following statement at the prompt in the command window:

>> p = [1 2 5 12 5 -15]

With this expression, you have given MATLAB sufficient information about the polynomial that
you want to solve. In step 2, you tell MATLAB to solve for the roots of the polynomial. This is
done by issuing the following command:

>>r = root(p).

3
With this command, MATLAB solves for the roots, displays them, and stores the roots in a
vector r. Here is the complete program used in MATLAB to solve for the roots of f(x).

» p = [1 2 5 12 5 -12]

p=

1 2 5 12 5 -12

» r = roots(p)

r=

0.2704+ 2.3713i
0.2704- 2.3713i
-1.6243+ 0.5818i
-1.6243- 0.5818i
0.7077

Plotting in MATLAB
MATLAB provides you with powerful 2-D and 3-D plot routines. For example, you can plot the
function defined below in two easy steps.

f ( x ) = sin( x ) + sin(3x )

In step 1 you define three parameters: the starting point of the graph, the distance between two
consecutive points on the graph, and the end of the graph. An example is given in the following
expression:

>>x = 0:0.01:6

x = 0:0.01:6
Starting point of the graph End point of the graph

Distance between two consecutive points on the graph

4
In step 2, you plot the function f(x) by typing:

>>plot( (sin(x) + sin(3 * x))

After this command, MATLAB opens another window (Figure No.1 Window) and plots the
function as shown below.

1.5

0.5

-0.5

-1

-1.5

-2
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

There are many commands that allow you to control different aspects of a plot. We will discuss
these in Chapters I.5 and I.6.

I.1.5 MATLAB Functions

MATLAB provides you with many functions that can be used to solve different problems.
These functions fall in different categories. In the following table, we list some of the most
widely used operators and functions used in MATLAB.

In addition to the standard MATLAB functions, you can easily develop a customized function
using an M-file. In Chapter 3 we will show you how you can build your own
M-files to perform specific tasks.

General Purpose Commands

Managing Commands and Functions
Command Description
demo Run demos
help Online documentation
info Information about MATLAB and MATHWorks
lookfor Keyword search through the help entries

5
path Control MATLAB’s search path
type List M-file
what Directory listing of M, MAT, and MEX-files
which Locate functions and files

Managing Variables and the Workspace

Command Description
clear Clear variables and functions from memory
disp Display matrix or text
length Length of vector
load Retrieve variables from disk
pack Consolidate workspace memory
save Save workspace variable to disk
size Size of matrix
who List current variables
whos List current variables, long form

Working with Files and the Operating System

Command Description
cd Change current working directory
delete Delete file
diary Save text of MATLAB session
dir Directory listing
getenv Get environment values
unix Execute operating systems command; return result.
! Execute operating system command.

Controlling the Command Window

Command Description
clc Clear Command Window
echo Echo commands inside script files
format Set output format
home Send cursor home
more Control paged output on Command Window

6
 Starting and Quitting MATLAB
Command Description
matlabrc Master startup M-file
quit Terminate MATLAB
Startup M-file executed when MATLAB is invoked

Language Construct and Debugging

MATLAB as a Programming Language
Command Description
eval Execute string with MATLAB expression
feval Execute function specified by string
function Add new function
global Define global variable
nargchk Validate number of input arguments

Control Flow
Command Description
break Terminate execution of loop
else Used with if
elseif Used with if
end Terminate the scope of for, while, and if statement
error Display message and abort function
for Repeat statement for a specific number of times
if Conditionally execute statement
return Return to invoking function
while Repeat statements until a condition is met

Interactive Input
Command Description
input Prompt for user input
keyboard Invoke keyboard as if it were a script-file
menu Generate menu of choice for user input
pause Wait for user response

7
 Debugging
Command Description
dbclear Remove breakpoint
dbcont Resume execution
dbdown Change local workspace context
dbquit Quit debugging mode
dbstack List who called whom
dbstatus List all breakpoints
dbstep Execute one or more line
dbstop Set breakpoint
dbtype List M-file with line numbers
dbup Change local workspace context

Elementary Matrices and Matrix Manipulation

Elementary Matrices
Command Description
eye Identity matrix
linspace Linearly spaced vector
logspace Logarithmically spaced vectors
meshgrid X and Y arrays for 3-D plots
ones Ones matrix
rand Uniformly distributed random numbers
randn Normally distributed random numbers
zeros Zeros matrix
: Regularly spaced vector

Matrix Manipulation
Command Description
diag Create or extract diagonals
fliprl Flip matrix in the left/right direction
flipud Flip matrix in the up/down direction
reshape Change size
rot90 Rotate matrix 90 degrees
tril Extract lower triangular part
triu Extract upper triangular part

8
 Specialized Matrices
Command Description
compan Companion matrix
hadamard Hadamard matrix
hankel Hankel matrix
hilb Hilbert transform
invhilb Inverse Hilbert matrix
magic Magic square
pascal Pascal matrix
rosser Classic symmetric eigenvalue test problem
toeplitzToeplitz matrix
vander Vandermonde matrix
wilkinson Wilkinson’e eigenvalue test matrix

Elementary Matrix Functions

Command Description
cond Matrix condition number
det Determinant
norm Matrix or vector norm
null Null space
orth Orthogonalization
rcond LINPAK reciprocal condition estimator
rank Number of linearly independent rows or columns
rref Reduced row echlon form
trace Sum of diagonal elements

Linear Equations
Command Description
chol Cholesky factorization
inv Matrix inverse
iscov Least square in the presence of known covariance
lu Factors from Gaussian elimination
nnls Non-negative least-squares
pinv Pseudoinverse
qr Orthogonal-triangular decomposition
\ and / Linear equation solution

9
 Matrix Eigenvalues and Singular Values
Command Description
balance Diagonal scaling to improve eigenvalue accuracy
cdf2rdf Complex diagonal form to real block diagonal form
eig Eigenvalues and eigen vectors
hess Hessenberg form
poly Characteristic polynomial
qz Generalized eigenvalues
rsf2csf Real block diagonal form to complex diagonal form
schur Schur decomposition
svd Singular value decomposition

Advanced Matrix Functions

Command Description
expm Matrix exponential
exmp1 M-file implementation of exmp
exmp2 Matrix exponential via Taylor series
exmp3 Matrix exponential via eigenvalues and eigenvectors
funm Evaluate general matrix function
logm Matrix logarithm
sqrtm Matrix square root

Data Interpolation
Command Description
griddata Data gridding
interp1 1-D interpolation
interp2 2-D interpolation
interpft 1-D interpolation using FFT method

Data Analysis
Command Description
cumprod Cumulative product of elements
cumsum Cumulative sum of elements
max Largest component
mean Average or mean value
median Median value

10
min Smallest component
prod Product of elements
sort Sort of ascending order
std Standard deviation
sum Sum of elements
trapz Numerical integration using trapezoidal method

Special Variables and Constants

Command Description
ans Most recent answer
computer Computer type
eps Floating point relative accuracy
flops Count the floating point operations
i, j Imaginary units
inf Infinity
NaN Not-a-Number
nargin Number of function input arguments
nargout Number of function output arguments
pi 3.1415926535897…
realmax Largest floating point number
realmin Smallest floating point number

Time and Date

Command Description
clock Wall clock
cputime Elapsed CPU time
date Calendar
etime Elapsed time function
tic, toc Stopwatch timer functions

Operators and Special Characters

Command Description
+ Plus
− Minus
* Matrix multiplication
.* Array multiplication
^ Matrix power
.^ Array power
kron Kronecker tensor product

11
\ Left division
/ Right division
./ Array division
: Colon
() Parentheses
[] Brackets
. Decimal point
.. Parent directory
... Continuation
, Comma
; Semicolon
% Comment
! Exclamation point
‘ Transpose and quote
.’ Nonconjugated transpose
= Assignment
== Equality
<> Relational operator
& Logical AND
| Logical OR
~ Logical NOT
xor Logical exclusive OR

Elementary Mathematical Functions

Command Description
abs Absolute value
acos Inverse cosine
acosh Inverse hyperbolic cosine
angle Phase angle
asin Inverse sine
asinh Inverse hyperbolic sine
atan Inverse tangent
atan2 Four quadrant inverse tangent
atanh Inverse hyperbolic tangent
ceil Round towards plus infinity
conj Complex conjugate
cos Cosine
cosh Hyperbolic cosine
exp Exponential
fix Round towards zero
floor Round towards minus infinity
imag Complex imaginary part
log Natural logarithm
log10 Base 10 (common ) logarithm

12
real Complex real part
rem Remainder after division
round Round towards nearest integer
sign Signum function
sin Sine
sinh Hyperbolic sine
sqrt Square root
tan Tangent
tanh Hyperbolic tangent

Finite Difference
Command Description
del2 Five-point discrete Laplacian
diff Difference function and approximate derivative
gradient Approximate gradient

Correlation
Command Description
corrcoef Correlation coefficients
cov Covariance matrix

Filtering and Convolution

Command Description
conv convolution and polynomial multiplication
conv2 Two-dimensional convolution
deconv Deconvolution and polynomial division
filter One-dimensional digital filter
filter2 Two-dimensional digital filter

Fourier Transform
Command Description
cplxpair Sort numbers into complex conjugate pairs
fft Discrete Fourier transform
fft2 Two-dimensional discrete Fourier transform
fftshift Move zeroth lag to center of spectrum

13
ifft Inverse discrete Fourier transform
ifft2 Inverse two-dimensional discrete Fourier transform
nextpow2 Next higher power of 2
unwrapRemove phase angle jumps across 360o boundaries

Polynomial and Interpolation Functions

Command Description
poly Construct polynomial with specified roots
polyder Differentiate polynomial
polyfit Fit polynomial to data
polyval Evaluate polynomial
polyvalm Evaluate polynomial with matrix argument
residue Partial-fraction expansion
roots Find polynomial roots

Function Functions
Command Description
fmin Minimize function of one variable
fmins Minimize function of several variables
fplot Plot function
fzero Find zero of function of one variable
ode23 Solve differential equations, low order method
ode45 Solve differential equations, high order method
quad Numerically evaluate integral, low order method
quad8 Numerically evaluate integral, high order method

Sparse Matrix Functions

Command Description
spdiags Sparse matrix formed from diagonals
speye Sparse identity matrix
sprands Sparse random matrix
sprandsym Sparse symmetric random matrix

14
 Full to Sparse Conversion
Command Description
find Find indices of nonzero entries
full Convert sparse matrix to full matrix
sparse Create sparse matrix from nonzero and indices
spconvert Convert from sparse matrix external format

Working with Nonzero Entries of Sparse Matrices

Command Description
issparse True if matrix is sparse
nnz Number of nonzero entries
nonzeros Nonzero entries
nzmax Amount of storage allocated for nonzero entries
spalloc Allocate memory for nonzero entries
spones Replace nonzero entries with ones

Visualizing Sparse Matrices

Command Description
gplot Plot graph
spy Visualize sparsity structure

Reordering Algorithms
Command Description
colmmd Column minimum degree
colperm Order columns based on nozero count
dmperm Dulmage-Mendelsohn decomposition
randpers Random permutation vector
symmmd Symmetric minimum degree
symrcm Reverse Cuthill-Mckee ordering

Norm, Condition Number, and Rank

Command Description
condest Estimated 1-norm condition
normest Estimate 2-norm
sprank Structural rank

15
 Miscellaneous
Command Description
spaugment Form least squares augmented system
spparms Set parameters for sparse matrix routines
symbfact Symbolic factorization analysis

Two Dimensional Graphics

Elementary X-Y Graphics
Command Description
fill Draw filled 2-D polygons
loglog Log-log scale plot
plot Linear plot
semilogx Semi-log scale plot
semilogy Semi-log scale plot

Specialized X-Y Graph

Command Description
bar Bar graph
compass Compass plot
errorbar Error bar plot
feather Feather plot
fplot Plot function
hist Histogram plot
polar Polar coordinate plot
rose Angle histogram plot
stairs Stairstep plot

Graph Annotation
Command Description
grid Grid lines
gtest Mouse placement of text
text Text annotation
title Graph title
xlabel X-axis label
yaxis Y-axis label

16
 3-Dimensional Graphs
Command Description
fill3 Draw filled 3-D polygons in 3-D space
plot3 Plot lines and points in 3-D space
clabel Contour plot elevation labels
contour Contour plots
contour3 3-D contour plots
contourc Contour plot computation
image Display image
pcolor Pseudocolor plot
quiver Quiver plot

Surface and Mesh Plots

Command Description
mesh 3-D mesh surface
meshc Combination mesh/contour plot
meshz 3-D Mesh with zero plane
slice Volumetric visualization plot
surf 3-D shaded surface
surfc Combination surface/contour plot
surf1 3-D shaded surface with lighting
waterfall Waterfall plot

Graph Appearance

Command Description
axis Axis scaling and appearance
caxis Pseudocolor axis scaling
colormap Color lookup table
hidden Mesh hidden line removal mode
shading Color shading mode
view 3-D graph viewpoint specification
viewmtx View transformation matrices
zlabel Z-label for 3-D graph

3-D Objects
Command Description
cylinder Generate cylinder
sphere Generate sphere

17
 General Purpose Graphics Functions
Command Description
clf Clear current figure
close Close figure
figure Create figure
gcf Get handle to current figure

Axis Creation and Control

Command Description
spaugment
axes Create axes in arbitrary position
axis Control axis scaling and appearance
cazis Control pseudocolor axis scaling
cla clear current axes
gca Get handle to current axes
hold Hold current graph
subplot Create axes in tiled position

Handling Graphics Objects

Command Description
line Create line
patch Create patch
surface Create surface
uicontrol Create user interface control
uimenu Create user interface menu

Handling Graphics Operations

Command Description
delete Delete object
drawnow Flash pending graphics event
get Get object properties
reset Reset object properties
set Set object properties

18
 Hardcopy and Storage
Command Description
orient Set paper orientation
print Print graph or save graph to file
printopt Configure local printer default

Movies and Animation

Command Description
getframe Get movie frame
movie Play recorded movie frame
moviein Initialize movie frame memory

Miscellaneous
Command Description
ginput Graphical input from mouse
ishold Return hold state

Color Maps
Command Description
bone Gray-scale with a tingle of blue color map
cool Shaded of cyan and magenta color map
copper Linear copper-tone color map
flag Alternating red, white, blue, and black color
gray Linear gray-scale color map
hsv Hue-saturation-value color map
hot Black-red-yellow-white color map
pink Pastel shaded of pink color map

Color Map Related Functions

Command Description
brighten Brighten or darken color map
hsv2rgb Hue-saturation-value to red-green-blue conversion
rgb2hsv Red-green-blue to hue-saturation-value conversion
rgbplot Plot color map
spinmap Spin color map

19
 Lighting Models
Command Description
diffuse Diffuse reflectance
specular Specular reflectance
surf1 3-D shaded surface with lighting
surfnorm Surface normals

Sound Processing Functions

Command Description
saxis Sound axis scaling
sound Convert vector into sound

Character String Functions

Command Description
abs Convert string to numerical values
eval Execute string with MATLAB expression
isstr True for string
setstr Convert numeric values to string
str2matForm text matrix from individual string
string About character string in MATLAB

String Comparison
Command Description
lower Convert string to lowercase
strcmp Compare string
upper Convert string to uppercase

String-to-Number Conversion
Command Description
int2str Convert integer to string
num2str Convert number to string
sprintf Convert number to spring under format control
sscanf Convert string to number under format control
str2num Convert string to number

20
 Hexadecimal-to-Number Conversion
Command Description
dec2hex Convert decimal integers to hex string
hex2dec Convert hex string to decimal integer
hex2num Convert hex string to IEEE floating point number

Low-level File I/O Functions

Command Description
fclose Close file
fopen Open file

Unformatted I/O
Command Description
fread Read binary data from file
fwrite Write binary data to file

Formatted I/O
Command Description
fgetl Read line from file, discard new line character
fgets Read line from file, keep new line character
fprintf Write formatted data to file
fscanf Read formatted data from file

File Positioning
Command Description
ferror Inquire file I/O error status
frewind Rewind file
fseek Set file position indicator
ftell Get file position indicator

String Conversion
Command Description
sprintf Write formatted data to string
sscanf Read string under format control

21
I.2 Communicating with MATLAB
I.2.1 Expressions and Variables

MATLAB provides mathematical expressions which involve entire matrices. The building
blocks of mathematical expressions in MATLAB are:

• Variables
• Numbers
• Operators
• Functions

Variable

Variables in MATLAB do not require any type of declarations or dimension statements.

Variable names are not limited in a number of characters. A MATLAB variable name consists of
a letter, followed by any number of letters, digits, or underscore. MATLAB uses only the first 31
characters of a variable name and ignores the rest. MATLAB is case sensitive, it distinguishes
between lowercase and uppercase letters. X and x, for example, are not the same and represent
two separate MATLAB variables.

Numbers

MATLAB uses conventional decimal notation. Scientific notation uses the letter e to specify a
power-of-ten scale factor. Imaginary numbers use either i or j as a suffix. For example x=2+3i
or x=2+3j represent the same imaginary numbers.

Operators

Expressions in MATLAB use familiar arithmetic operators:

+ Plus
− Minus
* Multiplication
^ Power
/ Division
‘ Complex conjugate or transpose of matrix
() Specify evaluation order
[] Specify vector and matrices

Functions

MATLAB provides a large number of standard elementary mathematical functions. The most
commonly used function are:

abs Absolute value

22
acos Inverse cosine
acosh Inverse hyperbolic cosine
angle Phase angle
asin Inverse sine
asinh Inverse hyperbolic sine
atan Inverse tangent
atan2 Four quadrant inverse tangent
atanh Inverse hyperbolic tangent
ceil Round towards plus infinity
conj Complex conjugate
cos Cosine
cosh Hyperbolic cosine
exp Exponential
fix Round towards zero
floor Round towards minus infinity
imag Complex imaginary part
log Natural logarithm
log10 Base 10 (common ) logarithm
real Complex real part
rem Remainder after division
round Round towards nearest integer
sign Signum function
sin Sine
sinh Hyperbolic sine
sqrt Square root
tan Tangent
tanh Hyperbolic tangent

In addition, several special functions provide values of useful constants. The default values for
the following variables are:

pi 3.14159265358979
i Imaginary unit i2=-1
j The same as i
eps A small number equal to 2-52
realmin Smallest floating-point number, 2-1022
realmax Largets floating-point number, 21023
inf Infinity
nan Not-a-number

The variable names for the above functions are not reserved by MATLAB. It is possible to
overwrite any of them with a new variable, such as
pi=3.1416

and then use that value in subsequent calculations. The default value can be restored with clear
pi.

23
I.2.2 Data Format

MATLAB stores all numbers using long format specified by the IEEE floating-point standard.
Floating-point numbers have a finite precision of roughly significant digits and a finite range of
roughly 10-308 to 10308 .

The format command in MATLAB controls only the numeric format of the data being displayed
on the screen.

The format command does not affect the way MATLAB stores and manipulates the data. The
following examples illustrate the effect of different formats on displaying the output.

Example I.2.1.1

4
First we assign the value to a variable x, then we display x using different formats.
3
» x=4/3

x=

1.3333

format short displays data using 5-digit scaled fixed point.

» format short
»x

x=

1.3333
»

format long displays data using 15-digit scaled fixed point.

» format long
»x

x=

1.33333333333333

24
format short e: displays data using 5-digit floating point.
» format short e
»x

x=

1.3333e+000

format long e: displays data using 16-digit floating point.

» format long e
»x

x=

1.333333333333333e+000

format hex : displays data using hexadecimal.

» format hex
»x

x=

3ff5555555555555

format bank: displays data using dollars and cents format.

» format bank
»x

x=

1.33

format rat: displays data using a ratio of small integers.

25
» format rat
»x

x=

4/3

format + : displays data using + for positive and - for negative numbers.

» format +
»x

x=

format by itself with no other entries will return to default (short) format.

» format
»x

x=

1.3333

Summary of formats

short 5-digit scaled fixed points.

long 15-digit scaled fixed points.
short e 5-digit floating point.
long e 16-digit floating point.
hex Hexadecimal.
bank Fixed dollars and cents.
rat Ratio of small integers.
+ Positive/negative designation.

26
I.2.3 Input / Output Data

You can enter data into MATLAB in two different ways: directly from keyboard or reading from
a data file.
Entering Data from Keyboard

The prompt “>>”in the Command Window indicates that MATLAB is ready to accept input data
or a command from the keyboard.

You can enter data from the keyboard in one simple step. For example,

» A=3.25

A=

3.2500

At this stage MATLAB has assigned value 3.25 to the variable A.

This value remains in a memory location reserved for A as long as you do not overwrite it or
clear it, or by ending the current MATLAB session through termination of the
Command Window.

You can change the value of A by simply entering a new value for A. For example,

» A=2

A=

To clear the variable A, at the prompt type clear A.

» clear A
»

Note that if you typed clear instead of clear A, MATLAB would have cleared all variables
without giving you a notice. So be very careful. This can be very painful when you have entered
many variables and suddenly you have accidentally cleared them all!

27
Practice I.2.3.1

Assign values 2, 3, and 4 to variables A, B, and C, respectively.

There are different ways of entering these data from the keyboard. We mention two of them
here.

Method 1. All in one line.

At the prompt, type A=2,B=3,C=4 and press Return or Enter. MATLAB responds

» A=2,B=3,C=4

A=

B=

C=

Method 2. Entering one at a time.

» A=2

A=

» B=2

B=

» C=3

C=

28
 3

I.2.4 Suppressing Output

A semicolon at the end of a MATLAB statement

stops
the MATLAB from displaying the output

Anytime you press the return or enter key, MATLAB takes two actions: first it automatically
displays the input data, then it performs the necessary computation ( if needed ) and displays the
output.

However, if we end the input statement with a semicolon (;), MATLAB does not display the
input data but it performs the computation and displays the output. This is particularly useful
when you generate a large array vector.
For example

» a=0:0.001:1000;
»

In this example, you generated a vector containing 1000001 numbers. Imagine that if you had
not ended the statement with a semicolon. Without the semicolon, MATLAB displays all
numbers on your computer screen.

I.2.5 Long Command Lines

MATLAB allows 4096 characters per line. However, it is impossible to display all of these on
one line. If your statement is long and does not fit on one line, use three periods, . . . , followed
by a return or enter to indicate that the statement continues on the next line. For example,

» x=2 + 1 - 5 +6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 11 + ...
13+14+15-12 - 13 - 14

x=

42

29
I.2.6 Entering and Manipulating Arrays and Matrices

You can enter arrays and matrices into MATLAB in several different ways.

• Enter an explicit list of elements.

• Load from an external data file
• Generate arrays or matrices using built-in functions
• Create arrays or matrices with your own functions in M-files. (M-files are explained in
Chapter III.)

Entering arrays

Arrays are entered into MATLAB using the following format:

v= initial value : difference between two consecutive elements : final value

The default value for the difference between two consecutive elements is 1.

For example:

» v=1:10

v=

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

You generated a row vector of length 10 consisting of the integers 1 through 10

» v=10:0.1:11

v=

Columns 1 through 7

10.0000 10.1000 10.2000 10.3000 10.4000 10.5000 10.6000

Columns 8 through 11

10.7000 10.8000 10.9000 11.0000

».

30
In the above example, you generated a vector containing numbers from 10 through 11 with an
increment of 0.1.

You can access an individual or a range of elements from a vector using the following format:

v(from index : to index)

Example: I.2.6.1

Enter a vector v containing elements 1 through 10; do not display the elements. Add elements 1
through 5 to elements 6 through 10 of this vector v.

The elements 1 through 5 are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and the elements 6 through 10 are: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. We
would like to add 1 to 6, 2 to 7, … etc.

» v=1:10;
» v(1:5)+v(6:10)

ans =

7 9 11 13 15

Matrices are entered into MATLAB using the following two format:

M= [ first row; second row;…; last row] or

M= [first row
2nd row
.
.
.
last row ]

For example to enter a 3x3 matrix you can enter either

» M=[1 2 3;4 5 6;7 8 9]

M=

1 2 3
4 5 6

31
 7 8 9

or
» M=[ 1 2 3
456
7 8 9]

M=

1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9

To access different blocks of matrices you can use the following format:

M1 = M (from row: to row , from column: to column )

where M is the original matrix and M1 is the desired sub-matrix.

Example: I.2.6.2

a) Enter a 3x3 matrix M with the first row being 1, 2, and 3, the second row being 4, 5, and 6,
and the third row being 7, 8, and 9, respectively. Do not display the matrix.
b) Assign the elements from row 1 through 2 and columns 2 through 3 to a matrix M1.
c) Assign the elements from row 2 through 3 and columns 1 through 2 to a matrix M2.
d) Obtain a matrix MSUM containing the sum of the corresponding elements in M1 and M2.

a) The matrix M is:

1 2 3
 
M = 4 5 6
7 8 9 

b) M1 is:

2 3
M1 =  
5 6

32
c) M2 is
4 5
M2 =  
7 8
d) MSUM is

6 8
MSUM =  
12 14

You can do this in MATLAB as shown below.

» M=[1 2 3;4 5 6;7 8 9];

» M1=M(1:2,2:3)

M1 =

2 3
5 6

» M2=M(2:3,1:2)

M2 =

4 5
7 8

» MSUM=M1+M2

MSUM =

6 8
12 14

I.2.7 Generating a Matrix from Arrays

You can combine vectors to generate a matrix. If vectors v1, v2, v3, and v4 are row vectors of
dimension 1x4, then the matrix M can be formed using these vectors.

M=[v1;v2;v3;v4]

33
Example: I.2.7.1

a) Generate row vectors v1, v2, v3, and v4 containing element, 1,2,3,4, and 5,6,7,8, and 9, 10,
11, 12, and 13, 14, 15, 16, respectively.
b) Generate matrix M containing v1, v2, v3, and v4 as its 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rows.

» v1=1:4

v1 =

1 2 3 4

» v2=5:8

v2 =

5 6 7 8

» v3=9:12

v3 =

9 10 11 12

» v4=13:16

v4 =

13 14 15 16

» M=[v1;v2;v3;v4]

M=

1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16

I.2.8 Special Matrices

Identity Matrix

34
An nxn identity matrix is a matrix whose diagonal elements are ones and all other elements are
zeros.

» eye(4)

ans =

1 0 0 0
0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0
0 0 0 1

Note that you can generate an m x n matrix whose diagonal elements are ones and zeros
elsewhere using the eye function.

» eye(3,4)

ans =

1 0 0 0
0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0

Companion matrix

An nth order polynomial is represented by

p( x ) = a1 x n + a 2 x n −1 +...+ a n x + a n +1 .

You can represent this polynomial in MATLAB as a vector with entries being the coefficients
a1 , a 2 ,..., a n , a n +1 . Once you entered this polynomial as a vector in MATLAB, you then can solve
for its roots. For example, you can solve for the polynomial

p( x ) = x 2 − 5x + 6
as
» p=[1 -5 6];
» r=roots(p)

r=

35
 2

The vector r holds the roots of the polynomial p(x).

The companion matrix of p is a matrix whose eigenvalues are the roots of the polynomial p. For
example, the companion matrix corresponding to the polynomial
p( x ) = x 2 − 5x + 6
is:

» p=[1 -5 6];
» A=compan(p)

A=

5 -6
1 0

In other words, if we compute the eigenvalues of A, they will be identical to the roots of the
polynomial p.

» eig(A)

ans =

3
2

Hadamard matrices

The Hadamard transform has many applications in signal and image processing. The 1-D and 2-D
Hadamard transformations are given in the following equations:

1-D Hadamard transform

2-D Hadamard transform

36
The elements of the Hadamard matrix H are either +1 or -1. You can generate an nxn Hadamard
matrix by

H = hadamard (n)

The 4x4 Hadamard matrix is:

» A=hadamard(4)
A=

1 1 1 1
1 -1 1 -1
1 1 -1 -1
1 -1 -1 1

Note that the rows and columns of the Hadamard matrices are orthogonal, that is if we sum the
product of any two rows or any two columns of a Hadamard matrix the result is zero. Also, if we
multiply the transpose of a Hadamard matrix by a Hadamard matrix itself, the product is equal to
n times an identity matrix. Which states that the inverse of a Hadamard matrix is equal to its
transpose divided by n. Lets try this on a 4x4 Hadamard matrix.

» A=hadamard(4);
» trans_a=A';
» trans_a*A

ans =

4 0 0 0
0 4 0 0
0 0 4 0
0 0 0 4

» trans_a*A/4

ans =

1 0 0 0
0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0
0 0 0 1

37
In addition to the above matrices, MATLAB can generate many more special matrices. Examples
are:

Function Purpose
hilb Hilbert matrix
Inverse Hilbert transform invhilb
magic Magic square
pascal Pascal matrix
rosser Classic symmetric eigenvalue test problem
toeplitzToeplitz matrix
vander Vandermonde matrix
wilkinson Wilkinson's eigenvalue test matrix

38
I.3 FILES IN MATLAB
I.3.1 Why do we need M-Files ?

When you start MATLAB it defaults to the Command Window. To solve a specific
problem, you can enter a series of commands at the prompt in the Command Window. For
example: if you are interested in converting Fahrenheit to Celsius, you can simply enter an
expression for this conversion using the formula C=(F-32)*5/9 and obtain your answer. So to
convert 10 degrees Fahrenheit to Celsius you would type the following :

» C=(10-32)*5/9

C=

-12.2222

The resulting temperature is -12.2222 degree Celsius. This is easy and fast. Now if you
want to convert F=-30 degree Fahrenheit to C, you need to enter this expression again. Is there
another way to go through this conversion without entering the Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion
each time? Of course there is! You can create an M-file for converting Fahrenheit to Celsius.

I.3.2 What is an M-File ?

Instead of typing your commands one by one in the Command Window, you can type them only
once in an M-file using a text editor of your choice. When you tell MATLAB to run your M-file,
it will open the file and evaluate commands in the sequence appearing in the file.

Remember
M-File filename must end with the extension ‘.m’

These files are called script files, or simply M-files. The term “script” emphasizes the fact that
MATLAB simply reads from the “script” found in the file. The term “M-file” recognizes the
fact that script filenames must end with the extension “.m” , e.g., f_to_c.m.

Remember
An M-file consists of a sequence of MATLAB command statements

All M-files are either in script or function form. Scripts are suitable when you need to
perform a long sequence of commands. Function files, on the other hand, are more flexibility as
they allow the user to pass and return values as would with other MATLAB functions.

39
 Remember
There are two types of MATLAB M-files : script and function files

I.3.3 How to Create and Edit an M-file

Remember
Steps involved in working with MATLAB M-files are:
CREATE Æ EDIT Æ RUN

M-Files are ASCII files that can be created using a text editor or word processor . To
create a new M-file, choose New from the File menu and then select M-file.

This procedure will open a default text editor where you can begin entering your MATLAB
commands. If you would like to add comments to your code, you may do so by starting the
comment line with a “%” character. Once you have finished entering your commands, you must
save your file. To save your file, choose Save As from the File menu of the text editor.

Remember
you must save your MATLAB M-files with .m extensions

Once you have created your M-file, you can execute it by either typing the name of the
M-file at the command prompt in the Command Window or by choosing Run M-File (Script
File) from the File menu in the Command Window.
If you choose Open from the File Menu in the Command Window, you will probably
find several files with ‘.m’ extensions. For example, if you want to rotate a matrix by 90 degrees
there is an M-file that will do that called rot90.m. Go to the File Menu and select Open M-file,
then change your directory to matlab/toolbox/matlab/elmat. The rot90.m file is located there.

40
 This brings up the question of locating both user written M-files and built-in MATLAB
functions. Suppose you wanted to do a matrix rotation with the function rot90.m, but you do not
know where it is located. The function which {M-file} will search through the MATLAB path
and give you the location of the desired M-file. For example, to find the location of the function
rot90.m, you can enter:

» which rot90

c:\matlab\toolbox\matlab\elmat\rot90.m

Occasionally, one forgets the name of an M-file to do a certain task. Or one may want to
search for a selection of similar MATLAB capabilities. You can use the lookfor {keyword}
command, which will give you a list of M-files that relate to a given keyword. For example, if
you wanted a list of all the M-files that have anything to do with the word "rotate," you would
enter:

» lookfor rotate

ROT90 Rotate matrix 90 degrees.

ROTATE Rotate an object by angle alpha about a specified direction.
XPR Radial coordinate of t-point of xy-curve rotated through angle u.
IMROTATE Rotate image.

I.3.4 Working with M-files

To better understand how to write and operate an M-file, let’s work through a couple of
examples. We’ll start by writing a script file.

1. Choose New from the File Menu and select New M-file.

41
 2. When the editor is opened, type in the following:

% This script M-file will convert Fahrenheit to Celsius.

% Tc is the temperature in Celsius and Tf is the temperature in Fahrenheit.

Tf = 78.;
Tc = (Tf -32.0)*(5/9)
% display Celsius Temperature to screen

3. Save the file as f_to_c.m and run it by either typing ‘f_to_c’ at the command prompt
or going to the Run M-file option of the file menu.

» degree
Tc =

25.5556

Remember
A % at the beginning of a statement denotes
a comment in MATLAB M-files

Now try typing help degree. You should see the following :

» help degree

This script M-file will convert Fahrenheit to Celsius.

Tc is the temperature in Celsius and Tf is the temperature in Fahrenheit.

The first two lines of the M-file which explain the code should appear on the screen. The
‘%’ sign in an M-file indicates a comment and allows you to create your own on-line help.
Notice that help will display only those comments before the beginning of the actual code. Any
comments in the code are not included in help.

This program, however, has several limitations. First, the temperature in Fahrenheit can
only be changed by editing the M-file and running it again. So in order to make this M-file more
useful let’s make some modifications. Make the following changes to the f_to_c.m file so that it
looks like the following:

42
% This script M-file will convert Fahrenheit to Celsius.
% Tc is the temperature in Celsius and Tf is the temperature in Fahrenheit.

echo on
% Tf is the temperature in Fahrenheit
Tf = input(‘Input the temperature in Fahrenheit: ’);
% Tc is the temperature in Celsius
Tc = (Tf -32.0)*(5/9)
% display Celsius Temperature to screen

After saving the M-file try running it again. As before, either run it from the command
prompt or go to the file menu. This is what should happen when you run it with a temperature of
45 degrees Fahrenheit.

» degree
% This script M-file will convert Fahrenheit to Celsius.
% Tc is the temperature in Celsius and Tf is the temperature in Fahrenheit.

echo on
% Tf is the temperature in Fahrenheit
Tf = input('Input the temperature in Fahrenheit: ');

Input the temperature in Fahrenheit: 45.

% Tc is the temperature in Celsius
Tc = (Tf -32.0)*(5/9)

Tc =

7.2222

% display Celsius Temperature to screen

There are two things to note in this M-file. First, after the initial set of comments there is
a statement ‘echo on’. This command allows the M-files to be viewed while running. So if there
is an error in the code, the user can see which command and at what line caused the problem.
This could be useful in debugging the M-file; once you have worked out all the bugs, you can
remove the echo on command.

In addition to the echo command there are other commands used for debugging M-files.
The command ‘pause’ in an M-file will halt program execution temporarily. The program will
resume execution when the user presses any key on the keyboard. Similarly, ‘pause(n)’ will
cause the program to stop for n seconds. There is another command called keyboard which is
used in M-file debugging and modification. When used in an M-file, it invokes the keyboard as
if it were a script M-file. During execution of an M-file, the keyboard command halts
execution, allowing the user to modify or observe the contents of MATLAB variables. Upon

43
execution of the keyboard command, MATLAB is placed in the Keyboard mode, which is noted
by a ‘K>>’ prompt appearing in the Command Window. The Keyboard mode can only be exited
by typing ‘return’ and then pressing the Enter key to resume execution.

A second point of note in the above M-file is that the MATLAB variable Tf is now an
input from the user. When the M-file was run, the user was prompted for the temperature. After
entering the desired value and then pressing return, the program finished executing and displayed
the result. Script files are just one example of M-files. As mentioned previously, M-files can
also be in the form of functions. Function M-files can easily be differentiated from script files
since the word function always appears first in a function M-file. Function files also allow values
to be passed into the M-files. To explain the implementation of function M-files we will work
through another example.

This next example will be similar to the previous M-file in that it again converts from
Fahrenheit to Celsius. However, this M-file will be a function M-file that will allow the user to
pass in the value for degrees Fahrenheit. The M-file f_to_c.m should be changed to the
following:

function yc = degree(xf)
% This function M-file will convert Fahrenheit to Celsius.

echo on

% xf is the temperature in Fahrenheit

% yc is the temperature in Celsius
yc = (xf -32.0)*(5/9);
fprintf(‘The Temperature in Celsius is %4.2f degrees.\n’,yc)

Now try running the new function M-file. Type in the name of the M-file and the
corresponding temperature in parentheses. The output will be a print statement of the
temperature in Celsius.

» degree(45);
The Temperature in Celsius is 7.22 degrees.
»

Function files are no more difficult to create than script files. Just remember, when
defining the function, use the same name as the M-file. For instance, in our previous example the
first statement was the following:

function yc = degree(xf).

Note that function name, degree, is the also the name of the corresponding M-file, degree.m.
Also you are not limited to passing only numbers. Vectors and matrices can be passed to
functions just as easily. Another point of note is that the variables xf and yc are local to the

44
degree function and are not in the workspace. So if you type “whos” you will not see those
variables. Finally, you are not limited to a single output. In other words our previous example
could also have returned the temperature in Kelvin. The M-file could have looked like this..

function [yc,yk] = degree(xf)

% This script M-file will convert Fahrenheit to Celsius and Kelvin.

echo on

% xf is the temperature in Fahrenheit

% yc is the temperature in Celsius
% yk is the temperature in Kelvin
yc = (xf -32.0)*(5/9);
yk = yc + 273;
fprintf('The Temperature in Celsius %4.2f degrees.\n', yc)
fprintf('The Temperature in Kelvin %4.2f degrees.\n', yk)

Again, after running the M-file you should see the following results.

» degree(45);
The Temperature in Celsius 7.22 degrees.
The Temperature in Kelvin 280.22 degrees.
»

Some Final Words on M-files…

When you first write an M-function file it is interpreted and placed into memory. It is
then available for the user throughout the working session without any further compilation.
Functions defined using M-files can also be called in other M-files just like any other function.
In other words, the function degree could have been called by another M-file.
In the examples mentioned previously it was not mentioned where the M-files were
saved. When the name of an M-file is invoked by the user, MATLAB has to determine what that
name means. This is done by following a certain sequential process. The MATLAB interpreter
will look for the name first as a variable, then as a built-in function, then in the current directory,
and finally in directories available through the MATLAB search path.

There is also one more hint that should be mentioned. If you are using Windows 95 you
could run into a problem with the naming of your M-files. On most Windows 95 machines,
Notepad is probably the default editor used to write an M-file. Usually you would go to the top of
the MATLAB Command Window and select File. Then you would choose to open a new M-file.
You would then proceed to type in all your commands and then save the file. Suppose you
choose to save the M-file as simple.m. You then proceed to try to run it. You type ‘simple’ at the
command prompt and then get a message such as the following:
>> simple
‘ ??? Undefined function or variable simple.’

45
Don’t worry if this happens; you didn’t do anything wrong. In the MATLAB Command Window,
open a DOS shell by typing ‘!command &’ and then go to the directory where you saved the M-
file. For you DOS novices you can change directories by using ‘cd directory name’. Then list the
files in that directory using the command ‘dir’. You should see your M-file listed as
‘simple.m.txt’. Since MATLAB only looks for .m extensions, it wasn’t able to find your M-file.
Simply rename the file using ‘rename simple.m.txt simple.m’ and hopefully your problem will be
solved.

Another problem that you may encounter relates to the search path that MATLAB scans
to find your M-file. If you save your file in a directory that is not in the MATLAB search path,
then MATLAB will give you an ‘ ??? Undefined function or variable simple’ error message. To
remedy this situation, you have 3 choices. You can move the MATLAB workspace to the
directory of the M-file by entering the command cd followed by the name of the directory where
the M-file is found. Another option is to move the M-file to a directory that is in the MATLAB
path. Finally, you can modify the MATLAB path to include the directory of your M-file.

I.3.5 Saving Workspaces

As you gain more experience in MATLAB, your computations will likely become more
complex. As you become more familiar with MATLAB, you will likely start writing M-files to
make your work easier. As your computations become more complex, the amount of data that
you generate will increase. This can be a big problem especially if you are on a slower machine.
Every time you decide to end your MATLAB session, you lose all the data you have generated.
So the next time you resume your work, you have to spend precious time re-creating the previous
information. Fortunately, all is not lost!! You can save your variables and data generated in a
workspace for future use. The following example illustrates how to save variables and the
workspace.

» Y = [1 2;3 4]
Y=

1 2
3 4

» X = [5 6;7 8]
X=

5 6
7 8

» U = rot90(Y)
U=

2 4
1 3

46
» V = rot90(X)
V=

6 8
5 7

Two matrices, X and Y, were created. Then, two rotated versions of X and Y were
created and saved as variables, U and V. The matrices are small and should not take too much
time for MATLAB to generate. Next, type ‘whos’. As you might remember from previous
exercises, this command will list all the variables used in the current work session and how much
memory is being used. You should see the variables, Y and X, as full 2 x 2 matrices. You may
also have several other variables in your workspace. Now suppose that you want to save the
variable Y. This is done by typing the following at the command prompt:

» save variable Y

This command will save the variable Y in a file called variable.mat. You could have also
typed either of the following two commands :

» save
or
» save variable

If you had used just ‘save’ all the variables in the workspace would have been saved to a
file called matlab.mat. If the command ‘save variable’ had been used, all the variables would
have been saved to a file called variable.mat.
Now exit MATLAB. Then reopen it and type the following :

» load variable

This command will then load the variable Y and the data in the matrix that was saved
previously.
You can save multiple variables also. In other words, if you wanted to save only a few
variables out of several, you could either delete them from memory using the ‘clear’ command or
you could specify the exact variable that you wanted to save. In our previous example it would
have been the following :

» save test X Y

Therefore using just a few commands you can save your work to use in the future. The
load and save commands also have a different use. They can be used to import and export ASCII
data. Their use and other topics are discussed in the next section.

47
 Remember
use the load or save command to save variables in your workspace

I.3.6 Importing and Exporting Data

In the preceding section we learned how to use the save and load commands to retain
data from a previous MATLAB session. You can use these commands, along with several
others, to read and write out ASCI data files. These ASCI files can either be used as a data file
for other M-files, or they could be used as an input file for a Fortran or C program. Again, most
of the concepts will be explained through examples.

» Y = [1 2;3 4];
» save temp.dat Y -ascii
» save a:\temp.dat Y -ascii

This will create the Y matrix and then save the data in ASCII format to your hard drive
and also to the floppy disk drive. The file can then be opened in another application. This could
be useful if, for example, you are generating some statistics on population growth to include in a
report. The data could then be saved in this manner and then used in a spreadsheet or plotting
package to include in reports.

As mentioned previously, the data files could also be used as input files to Fortran or C
files. For example, suppose that a Fortran or C program requires the Matrix Y as an input. The
matrix Y can be saved and the C or Fortran program can be executed all within MATLAB by
using a few simple commands :

» Y = [1 2;3 4];
» save temp.dat Y -ascii
» !prog_execute
» load output.dat

The matrix Y will be saved in the text file temp.dat. The external program prog_execute
will be called using the shell escape command ’!’. The prog_execute program will then read in
the data file temp.dat, execute the program, and then create the output file, output.dat. This
output file is then loaded into the MATLAB workspace. This is a convenient way to run your
external programs without interrupting your work in MATLAB. These commands could also
have been included in an M-file.

Data can also be read or written out with other I/O functions such as fopen, fread, fcanf,
fprintf, and fwrite. When trying to read or write to a file you always want to open the file first
(using the fopen command), and then close it (using the fclose command) once you are finished
with the file. A typical fopen and fclose command may be the following :

48
 fid = fopen(‘filename’,’permission’)
fclose(fid)
where permission could be the following :
r for read only
r+ read and write
w write over existing contents
w+ read and write over existing contents

If the file is opened successfully, then the value of fid is an integer greater than 2. Binary
files can also be read or written by adding a ‘b’ at the end of the previous permissions. So r+
would become rb+.
The fscanf and fprintf commands are used when reading and writing ASCII data while the
fread and fwrite are used for reading and writing binary data. The syntax of these commands will
first be explained and then some examples to show their use will follow.

The command fprintf is used to write formatted data to a file. The syntax used for this
command is :
count = fprintf(fid,’format’,A,...) or fprintf(‘format’,A,...)

Recall that the file, fid, was first defined using the fopen command. Count returns the
number of bytes that was written out. The format statement allows you to determine the
precision and spacing of your output data. There are two types of specific format syntax. They
are escape characters and conversion characters. The escape characters are preceded by a
backslash ‘\’ and are as follows :

\n start a new line

\t horizontal tab
\b backspace
\r carriage return
\f form feed
\\ backlash
\’ single quote

The conversion characters are preceded by a percent sign ‘%’ and are as follows :

%e exponential notation
%f fixed point notation
%g chooses the shorter of %e or %g
(does not include significant zeros)

All of this may seem confusing. Hopefully, the next couple of examples will clear this
confusion. Type in the following commands :

49
» fid = fopen(‘test.dat’, ‘w’);
» x = 1:100;
» y = [x; sqrt(x)];
» fprintf(fid, ‘ %6.2f %6.2\n ‘, y);
» fclose(fid)

Looking at the previous commands, let's concentrate on the fprintf statement. The fprintf
command prints the variable y to a file named test.dat. The syntax ‘6.2f’ means the minimum
field width is 6 spaces long and the 2 specifies the precision of the data. In other words, the
printed data will be accurate to within 2 decimal places. The ‘\n’ is important here, without it all
the data would be printed on the same line. The output file test.dat should look like the
following:

1.00 1.00
2.00 1.41
3.00 1.73
4.00 2.00
5.00 2.24
6.00 2.45
7.00 2.65
8.00 2.83
. .
. .

The fscanf command works in a similar fashion. The generic format is as follows :

[A,count] = fscanf(fid, ‘format’, size)

[A,count] = fscanf(id, ‘format’)

The fscanf statement will read the data into a matrix A. The size of the file can be the
following :

n reads n elements into a column vector

inf reads to the end of a file
[m,n] reads until m x n matrix is full

From the previous example we could read test.dat back in as follows :

» fid = fopen(‘test.dat’);
» U = fscanf(fid, ’%g %g’, [2 inf ])
» fclose(fid)

Test data will be read into MATLAB again with the y data in a two row matrix called U.

The next set of commands fwrite and fread deal with binary data files. The commands are
very similar to fscanf and fprintf. The generic form for fread and fwrite are:

50
 A = fread(fid) or [a,count] = fread(fid, size, ‘precision’)
count = fwrite(fid,A,’precision’) or fwrite(fid,A,’precision’)

You open the file and read it or write to it as needed. However since we are now dealing
with binary data, there is also a precision option. Use of the precision option requires that the
user knows the number of bits in each value being read or written. If noting is used, precision is
automatically set to ‘unchar’ which means unsigned 8-bit character. The following is a list of
what could be used for precision when reading and writing binary files. The information is given
for both MATLAB and C or FORTRAN.

MATLAB C or FORTRAN Interpretation

char char or char*2 character 8 bits signed or unsigned

schar signed char signed 8 bit character
uchar unsigned char unsigned 8 bit character
short short 16 bit integer
ushort unsigned short unsigned 16 bit integer
int int 16 or 32 bits integer
uint unsigned int unsigned 16 or 32 bit integer
long long 32 bit integer
float float 32 bit floating point value
ulong unsigned long 32 bit unsigned integer
float 32 real*4 32 bit floating point value
double double 64 bit long floating point
float64 real*8 64 bit floating point value
intN signed integer, N bits wide
uintN unsigned integer N bits wide

Therefore, using freadf you could read in binary data from C or Fortran. Likewise, you
could write binary data that would be compatible with your external program.

I.3.7 Using the MATLAB Debugger

Often times when writing an M-file you will save it and run it only to find that MATLAB
either says you have an error or you get values that you weren’t expecting. There are several
options at this point. You can start by removing the semicolons so that the data is displayed as it
is calculated. If this does not help, the echo and keyboard commands could also be used to
examine the workspace state at any point during execution. Finally if you are running the
MATLAB version of 4.0 or greater you could use the MATLAB debugger. A list of all the
debugging commands are listed in Chapter 1.

Remember
the debugger only works on MATLAB function files

51
 To better understand the debugger commands we will work through some examples.
Create the following function M-file shown below:

function [y1,y2] = temp(x)

% For each Matrix entered find the determinant and rotate the matrix
y2 = rot90(x)
y1 = det(x)

After running the M-file with a matrix you should get results similar to the following :

» x = [3 4 5;1 5 6;7 8 9]
x=

3 4 5
1 5 6
7 8 9

» temp(x);
y2 =

5 6 9
4 5 8
3 1 7

y1 =

-12

To start using the debugger, first use the dbtype command. This command will list the
M-file with line numbers. The syntax of this command is dbtype followed by the function name.
In the following example, the dbtype command will be used for both the temp M-file and the
rot90 M-file. After using dbtype you should see the following :

» dbtype temp

1 function [y1,y2] = temp_example(x)

2 % For each Matrix entered find the determinant and rotate the matrix
3 y2 = rot90(x)
4 y1 = det(x)

» dbtype rot90

1 function B = rot90(A,k)
2 %ROT90 Rotate matrix 90 degrees.

52
3 % rot90(A) is the 90 degree rotation of m x n matrix A.
4 % rot90(A,k) is the k*90 degree rotation of A, k = +-1,+-2,...
5 % For example,
6 %
7 % A = [1 2 3 B = rot90(A) = [ 3 6
8 % 456] 25
9 % 14]
10 %
11 % mesh(B) then shows a 90 degree counter-clockwise rotation
12 % of mesh(A).
13 %
14 % See also VIEW, FLIPUD, FLIPLR.
15
16 % From John de Pillis 19 June 1985
17 % Modified 12-19-91, LS.
18 % Copyright (c) 1984-93 by The MathWorks, Inc.
19
20
21 [m,n] = size(A);
22 if nargin == 1
23 k = 1;
24 else
25 k = rem(k,4);
26 if k < 0
27 k = k + 4;
28 end
29 end
30 if k == 1
31 A = A.';
32 B = A(n:-1:1,:);
33 elseif k == 2
34 B = A(m:-1:1,n:-1:1);
35 elseif k == 3
36 B = A(m:-1:1,:);
37 B = B.';
38 else
39 B = A;
40 end

Now we will set a stop in the temp M-file and the rot90 M-file using the following
command :

» dbstop at 2 in temp
» dbstop at 21 in rot90

53
 These statements will cause MATLAB execution to stop at line 2 in the temp M-file and
at line 21 in the rot90 M-file. Now run the M-file again using a different value of x. You should
see something like this.

» x = [2 6 7;3 8 4; 1 6 3];
» temp(x);
y2 = rot90(x)
K»

Execution stopped at line 2 in the temp M-file and is now in the keyboard command
mode. At this time, use the dbstack command to display all the function calls. The command
dbstack should return the function and its appropriate path. This is an example of what you may
see. Since you may have saved your M-file somewhere else your path may be different than this.

K» dbstack
In c:\matlab\bin\temp.m at line 3
K»

At this point you can enter whos to see what variables are being used and what their
values are. We will continue execution and move to the next break point using the dbcont
command. After typing dbcont you should see something like this.

K» dbcont
21 [m,n] = size(A);
K»

The dbcont statement allowed the M-file to continue until the next breakpoint. If we
wanted to move line by line through our code, we could use the dbstep command. Using the
dbstep command in the program we could view the values as the program is being run. The use
of the dbstep command is shown below:

K» dbstep
22 if nargin == 1
K» nargin
nargin =

1
K» dbstep
23 k = 1;

K» dbstep
24 else
K» k

k=

54
K»

At this point we could use dbcont to allow the program to run to completion or we could
step through the entire rot90 M-file line by line. If there are more breakpoints that you do not
need anymore, the dbclear command can be used.

K» dbclear at 21 in rot90

The above statement will clear the breakpoint in rot90. If you are satisfied with the
results of your M-file and wish to quit the debugger, dbquit will take the user out of the
debugging mode.

K» dbquit
»

Now try running the program temp again; the following should happen.
» temp(x)
3 y2 = rot90(x)
K» dbcont
y2 =

7 4 3
6 8 6
2 3 1

y1 =
40

Since all the breakpoints were not cleared, MATLAB again stopped in the temp M-file
and reverted to the debugging mode. You have to clear all stops before quitting the debugger, or
you can use the clear command in the workspace. Do bee careful, though, as the clear
command will clear ALL variables.

There were several important topics discussed in this chapter. We learned how to create,
run and debug M-files to make your work easier. We also learned how to read and write data to
files. The information provided should cover most of your needs. And of course, practice makes
perfect so work through those examples. Remember, you can always use the help provided with
MATLAB for more information and examples.

55
I.4 MATLAB OPERATORS
I.4.1 Operators

Operators are the basis for building expressions. Operations include basic functions such
as scalar addition and subtraction to more complex functions such as matrix multiplication and
division. A comprehensive list of operators is provided in the first chapter.

Remember
In MATLAB there are three different groups of operators
arithmetic, relational, and logical

Remember
In MATLAB the order of precedence for the operators are
arithmetic->relational-> logical

The first group of operators is the arithmetic operators. They include the basic math
functions to perform addition, subtraction, etc. The syntax used in MATLAB for the basic
arithmetic operators is as follows :

+ addition
- subtraction
* multiplication
/ right division
\ left division
^ power

The user should be familiar with the addition, subtraction, and multiplication operations.
The right and left division, however, does need some explaining. The basic concept behind left
and right division is as follows :

A/B = B\A
Right Division Left Division

In right division, the first number is the numerator and the second number is the denominator.

56
Left division works opposite to right division; the first number is the denominator and the second
number is the numerator.
Example I.4.1
Divide 2 by 4 using right and left division.

» 2/4
ans =
0.5000

» 4\2
ans =
0.5000

Before finishing this section, let’s do one more example with arithmetic operators..

Example I.4.1.2
In one command statement using the arithmetic operators, subtract 8 from 16 squared.

» 16^2 - 8
ans =

248
»

This example demonstrates that the power operator takes precedence over subtraction.
Precedence of the power operator over subtraction means that the power operation is performed
before the subtraction, regardless of the order of the two operations. Rules for precedence of
arithmetic operators are as follows. Multiplication, right and left division and the power
operator all have equal precedence. Combinations of these four operators in one statement are
performed in the order that they appear from left to right. These four operators all have
precedence over addition and subtraction. You can use parentheses to assert your own
precedence in an arithmetic expression. We will see more examples of precedence when we
discuss Relational and Logical operators.

I.4.2 Arithmetic Array and Matrix Operators

The arithmetic operators mentioned in the previous section are not limited to scalar
operations only; they can be used for arrays and matrices.

Remember
In MATLAB array arithmetic operations are carried out element by element

A list of the operators, their function, and their syntax is given below:
A + B addition of arrays A and B

57
 A - B subtraction of arrays A and B
A .* B element by element multiplication
A ./ B right division of arrays A and B
A .\ B left division of arrays A and B
A .^ B Array A raised to the power of B
A .‘ Transpose of array A

Remember
In using array operations, A and B either have to be of the same dimension or one
of them has to be a scalar

The array operations are similar to the arithmetic operations mentioned in the previous
section. The ‘.’ indicates the element by element operation. The next couple of examples show
the use of some of these operators..

Example I.4.2.1
Define two arrays x = [5 6 7] and y = [7 8 9]

» x = [5 6 7]

x=
5 6 7

» y = [7 8 9]

y=
7 8 9
»

Example I.4.2.2
Transpose x and y

» x.'

ans =
5
6
7

» y.'

ans =
7

58
 8
9
»

Example I.4.2.3
Multiply x and y. Then multiply x by the transpose of y

» x.*y

ans =
35 48 63

» x.*y'
??? Error using ==> .*
Matrix dimensions must agree.
»

Again remember the dimensions must agree!! In the previous example, the error was
shown because we tried to multiply a 1 by 3 array with a 3 by 1 array.

Example I.4.2.4
Divide x and y using left and right division.

» x./y

ans =
0.7143 0.7500 0.7778

» y.\x

ans =
0.7143 0.7500 0.7778
»

Example I.4.2.5
Raise x to the power of 2. Then raise x to the power of y.

» x.^2

ans =
25 36 49

» x.^y

59
ans =
78125 1679616 40353607
»

In example I.4.2.5 above, we raise x to the power of y in an element-by-element fashion

by using the ‘.*’ operator. The array x contains the elements 5, 6, and 7 and the array y contains
the elements 7, 8, 9. So the element-by-element power operation raises 5 to the power of 7, 6 is
to the power of 8, and 7 to the power of 9.

As you can see, the use of array operators is not that difficult. The information learned
here will be built upon in the next section when we talk about matrix operators.

I.4.3 Arithmetic Matrix Operators

Matrix arithmetic operations are defined by the rules of linear algebra. The list of
operators are similar to the operators used for array operations. A list of the operators and their
functions are listed below:

A + B Adds A and B
A - B Subtracts A and B
A* B Algebraic Multiplication of A and B
A/ B Matrix right division
A\ B Matrix left division
A^ p Matrix power where p is a scalar or integer
A’ Matrix transpose (for complex matrices performs
complex conjugate transpose)

Matrix operators are very useful and are used frequently for such functions as solving
linear equations. Some examples are again shown here to familiarize the reader with Matrix
operators.

Remember
The order of operations is important when using Matrix operations

Example I.4.3.1
Create matrices P and Q. Let P be equal to [1 4;4 5] and Q be equal to [6 5;4 5].
Multiply P and Q, then Q and P, and array multiply P and Q, then Q and P.

» P = [1 4;4 5]

P=
1 4

60
 4 5

» Q = [6 5;4 5]
Q=

6 5
4 5

»P*Q
ans =

22 25
44 45

»Q*P
ans =

26 49
24 41

» P .* Q
ans =

6 20
16 25

» Q .* P
ans =

6 20
16 25

As mentioned previously, the order of matrix operations is important. P * Q does not

equal Q * P. Note that this restriction is not necessary for array multiplication. P .* Q is just an
element-by-element multiplication of the matrices, therefore P .* Q equals Q.* P.

Example I.4.3.2
Perform matrix right and left division on matrices P and Q.

» P/Q
ans =

-1.1000 1.9000
0 1.0000

61
» Q\P
ans =

-1.5000 -0.5000
2.0000 1.4000
»

Again, the order of the operations is important. It is interesting to note that right division of
matrices is equivalent to multiplication of a the first matrix times the inverse of the second
matrix. That is, A/B is equivalent to A*inv(B). Similarly, for left division, A\B is equivalent to
inv(A)*B.

Example I.4.3.3
Raise P to the second power. Again use matrix and array operators to see the difference.

» P^2
ans =

17 24
24 41

» P .^2
ans =

1 16
16 25

Note that P^2 is equivalent to matrix multiplication of P times P.

At this point you may be asking yourself, “How do I know when to use array and matrix
operators?”. If you want to perform element-by-element operations, use array operators.
Suppose, for example, you are solving for X in the equation AX = B where A and B are both
matrices. Since this is a matrix equation, the solution will involve matrix operations. The
solution for X is of the form X = inv(A)*B. The abbreviated solution for this expression is X=
A\B. The preceding is an instance where matrix operations are appropriate. The following is an
example where element-by-element operations are appropriate.

62
Example I.4.3.4
Suppose you would like to calculate power dissipation in a diode given the following
measurements of diode voltage and current:

Diode Voltage Diode Current

0.5 volts 10 µA
0.6 volts 1mA
0.65 volts 4 mA
0.7 volts 10 mA
0.75 volts 40 mA
0.8 volts 100 mA

We all know that power is voltage times current. In MATLAB, we can define a voltage array, v,
and a current array, i, and use element-by-element multiplication to calculate the power.

» v= [0.5 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8] % voltage array

v=

0.5000 0.6000 0.6500 0.7000 0.7500 0.8000

» i = [10e-6 1e-3 4e-3 10e-3 40e-3 100e-3] % diode current in amps

i=

0.0000 0.0010 0.0040 0.0100 0.0400 0.1000

» p=v.*i % diode power in watts

p=

0.0000 0.0006 0.0026 0.0070 0.0300 0.0800

» format short e
»p

p=

5.0000e-006 6.0000e-004 2.6000e-003 7.0000e-003 3.0000e-002 8.0000e-002

It takes some practice to remember what the syntax for a given operation should be, but once you
have used these operations for a while, the appropriate usage should become second nature.

63
I.4.4 Relational Operators

Relational operators perform element-by-element comparisons between two matrices or

scalars.

Remember
MATLAB will return a 1 if the relation is true and a 0 if the relation is false

The Relational operators, their syntax, and their functions are listed below :

A < B checks if A is less than B (works only on real part)

A > B checks if A is greater than B(works only on real part)
A <= B checks if A is less than or equal to B(works only on real part)
A >= B checks if A is greater than or equal B(works only on real part)
A = = B checks if A is equal to B(works on real and imaginary part of operands)
A ~= B checks if A is not equal to B(works on real and imaginary part)

All the relational operators are relatively self-explanatory. To understand relational

operators and their uses, some more examples are presented.

Example I.4.4.1

Create variables a and b. Set a to 6 and b to 8. Then use some of the relational operators to
compare a and b and observe the results.

»a=6
a=

»b=8
b=

»a>b
ans =

»a<b
ans =

64
» a == b
ans =

0
»

Note that relational operations return a "1" if the relationship is true, and a "0" if it is false.

Example I.4.4.2

Create matrices c and d. Let c be a 2x2 matrix equal to [1 5;7 3] and d be a 2x2 matrix
equal to [9 5;2 7]. Again use some of the relational operators to compare c and d and see what
type of results you get.

» c = [1 5;7 3]
c=

1 5
7 3

» d = [9 5;2 7]
d=

9 5
2 7

» c >d
ans =

0 0
1 0

» c >=d
ans =

0 1
1 0

» c == d
ans =

0 1
0 0

» c <d
ans =

65
 1 0
0 1

» c <=d
ans =

1 1
0 1
»

Example I.4.4.3

Now create two complex variables e and f. Let e be equal to 3 + 5i and f be equal to 2 +
7i. Again use some of the relational operators to compare e and f and see what type of results you
get.

» e = 3 + 5i
e=

3.0000 + 5.0000i

» f = 3 + 7i
f=

3.0000 + 7.0000i

» e ~=f
ans =

» e == f
ans =

» e >f
ans =

» e >=f
ans =

66
»

As can be seen by the previous example, all the relational operators, excluding the (= =) and (~=)
operators, test only the real part of the operands. Relational operators are very useful for
comparing variables and for decision making, as required in for and if loops.

I.4.5 Logical Operators

The final set of operators are Logical operators. They perform the AND, OR, and NOT
operations. The syntax used is as follows :

A&B A AND B
A|B A OR B
~A NOT A
xor(A,B) EXCLUSIVE OR of A and B

As is the case with Relational operations, if a Logical operation is TRUE then a 1 is

returned and if it is FALSE a 0 is returned.

Remember
When Logical operators are used in calculations, they
have the lowest precedence

Some examples are presented here to better understand Logical operators.

Example I.4.5.1
In MATLAB write a command statement to test if 2+4 is less than 9 and 11.

» 2+4 < 9 & 11

ans =

There are some important things that should be noted in the previous example. First when
looking at the command statement above, it should read: “Is the value of 2+4 less than 9 and
11.” The answer is obviously true; however, it is important to remember that MATLAB used the
order of precedence when performing the comparison. The addition of 2+4 was performed first

67
since it has higher precedence than the AND operator. The sum was checked to see if it was less
than both 9 and 11.

Example I.4.5.2

In MATLAB, write a command statement to test if 2+4 is less than 3 or 11.

» 2+4 < 3 | 11

ans =

The command statement above should be read: “Is the value of 2+4 less than 3 or 11.” Six is
less than 11, so the operation is true and the result is 1. As with Relational operators, Logical
operators are useful in performing comparisons and for decision making in programming loops.

I.4.6 Special Characters

In this section some special characters and their uses are explained. These special
characters are helpful to know when constructing arrays, making comments in M-files, etc. The
list of Special Characters and their functions are listed below.

[] Brackets are used to form vectors and Matrices

() Parentheses are used to indicate precedence in arithmetic expressions
= Used in assignment statements, ==is a Relational operator
‘ Matrix Transpose
. Decimal point
, Used to separate matrix subscripts and function arguments
; Used after expression to suppress printing
% Denotes comment
! Indicates the rest of the input line is a command to the operating system

You should have been exposed to most of these characters in the previous sections.
However, since we have been stressing operators and the importance of precedence in arithmetic
expressions, let's look at one more example.

Example I.4.6.1

In MATLAB write a command statement to test if 9 + 2*2 > 20. Then add parentheses
around 9 + 2 to see the difference.

» 9 + 2*2 > 20

68
ans =
0

» (9 + 2)*2 > 20

ans =
1
»

As can be seen in the previous example, the parentheses changed the values on the left
hand side of the expression.

In this section we covered several important topics from the use of operators to the use of
special characters. By going through the examples, the user should become more comfortable
with MATLAB and more confident in writing M-files.

69
I.5 Two- Dimensional Graphics
I.5.1 Linear X-Y Graphs

The common command for plotting two-dimensional data is the plot command. This command
plots sets of data arrays on appropriate X-Y (horizontal and vertical ) axes, and connects the
points using straight lines. Here is an example of how to use the plot command:
Example I.5.1.1

»x = 0:0.01:2 * pi;
»y = sin(x);
»plot(x, y)
»

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

This example creates 629 data points over the range 0≤x ≤2π to form the horizontal axis of the
plot. It also creates another array, y, containing the corresponding sine of the data in array x.
Once the plot command is entered, MATLAB will open a graphics window (Figure Window)
and graph the data by using straight lines to connect the points. It also adds numerical scales and

70
tick marks to the axes automatically. If a Figure Window already contains a graph, the plot
command clears the current Figure Window and plots a new graph.

The Plot Command

plot(horizontal axis, vertical axis)

An array holding the horizontal variable. An array holding the function to be plotted.

Rotate 90o

plot(vertical axis, horizontal axis)

An array holding the function to be plotted. An array holding the horizontal variable.

I.5.2 Multiple Plots on the Same Axes

There are different ways of plotting more than one set of data on the same set of axes:

1) using the hold command, or

2) using the plot command with a multiple pair of arguments

The Hold Command

The hold command holds the current plot and all axes properties so that the subsequent graphing
commands add to the existing command.

Example I.5.2.1:

» x = 0:0.01:2 * pi;
» y = sin(x);
» z = cos(x);
» zz = sin(x + pi / 4);
» plot(x, y)
» hold
Current plot held

71
» plot(x, z);
» plot(x, zz);
»
Once the hold command is entered, MATLAB continues plotting new graphs on the same axes.

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

You can stop holding the current graphs by either entering another hold command or using the
hold off command.

To stop MATLAB from holding the current plots, enter

hold off
or
hold (if a hold command has been entered before)

Another way of plotting multiple functions on the same set of axes is by giving the plot
command more than one pair of arguments.

Example I.5.2.2:

» hold off
» x = 0:0.01:2 * pi;
» y = sin(x);
» z = cos(x);
» plot(x, y, x, z)
»

72
 1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Remember

Many functions may be plotted at one time if you supply additional pairs of arguments to the plot
command.

If one of the arguments in the plot command is a matrix and the other is a vector, then
MATLAB graphs each row of the matrix versus the vector.

Example I.5.2.3:
» x = 0:0.01:2 * pi;
» y = sin(x);
» z = cos(x);
» zz = sin(x + pi / 4);
» mat_y_z_zz = [y; z; zz];
» plot(x, mat_y_z_zz)
»
In this example, you created a matrix , mat_y_z_zz, whose rows are sin(x), cos(x) , and sin(x + pi
/ 4). The plot command graphs the rows of this matrix versus the variable x at the same time on
the same set of axes.

73
I.5.3 Interpretation of Plot Command with a Single Argument

When the plot command is used with a single argument, plot(y), it acts based on the data
contained in y. If y is a complex-valued function, then plot(y) is interpreted as plot (Real(y),
Imag(y)). In all other instances, the imaginary component of y is ignored.

Example I.5.3.1:

» x = 0:0.01:2 * pi;
» y = sin(x) + cos(x) * i;
» plot(y)
»

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
-1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

In this example, you created a complex array y with Real(y) = sin(x) and Imag(y) = cos(x). The
plot command, plot(y) , graphs cos(x) versus sin(x).

When y is a real-valued function, then plot(y) is interpreted as plot(x,y). If there is no array

involved in the calculation of y, then plot(y) is interpreted as plot(1:length(y),y). That is, y is
plotted versus an index of its values. For example, when the single argument is a matrix, then
these interpretations are applied to the columns of the matrix.

Example I.5.3.2:
» x = 0:0.01:2 * pi;
» mat_y_z = [sin(x); cos(x)];
» mat_y_z = mat_y_z';
» plot(mat_y_z)»

74
 1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

In this example, you created a matrix mat_y_z with its first and second column being sin(x) and
cos(x), respectively. Note that MATLAB interpreted the plot as plotting sin(x) and cos(x) versus
its index ( number of rows) not the values of x.

Teaser I.5.3.1:

In the previous plots, you have seen different scales for the x-axis.
One divided the x-axis between 0 and 7, the other between 0 and 700. Can you explain why ?

If you couldn’t explain this, see our explanation at the end of this chapter.

I.5.4 Line Styles, Markers, and Colors

Various line types, plot symbols and colors may be obtained with plot(x,y,s), where s is a
character string made of one or more elements from the following columns labeled “Symbol.”

75
Symbol Color Symbol Marker Symbol Line Style
y yellow . point - solid
m magenta o circle : dotted
c cyan x x-mark -. dashdot
r red + plus -- dashed
g green * star
b blue s square
w white d diamond
k black v triangle (down)
^ triangle (up)
< triangle (left)
> triangle (right)
p pentagram
h hexagram

Example I.5.4.1:

» x = 0:0.1:2 * pi;
» y = sin(x);
» z = cos(x);
» plot(x, y, 'kp-', x, z, 'gd--')
»

76
 1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

In this example, y is plotted with black color (k), pentagram marker ( p), and solid lines. The
function z is plotted with green color (g), diamond marker (d), and dashed lines (--).

Remember

Line style, marker, and color must follow each pair of the arguments in the plot command.
These parameters must be enclosed in single quotation marks , ‘ ’.

plot(x, y, ‘bd*’)

x = horizontal axis
y = vertical axis
b= blue color
d = diamond marker
* = start line style
I.5.5 Plot Appearance

MATLAB allows flexibility as to how you want your plot to appear on the screen. You can add
grids, label the axes, insert a title, create a legend, and eliminate the box that surrounds your
graph.

Adding Grids

77
Example I.5.5.1:

» x = 0:0.01:2 * pi;
» plot(y)
» grid on
»

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

To remove the grid, simply enter

» grid off
»

Labeling Axes

xlabel

Labeling axes is simple!

xlabel(‘whatever you want for x-axis’)
ylabel(‘whatever you want for y-axis’)

» xlabel('This is where the x-label goes.')

» ylabel('This is where the y-label goes.')

78
 1

0.8

0.6
This is where the y-label goes.

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
This is where the x-label goes.

Titling Your Plot

The title command adds a line of text at the top of the plot.
title(‘This is where the title goes’)

» title('This is where the title goes.')

»

79
 This is where the title goes.
1

0.8

0.6
This is where the y-label goes.

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
This is where the x-label goes.

Remember

You can add a label (or any other text string) to any specific location on your plot with the text
command.

text ( x,y, ‘text string’)

The point (x,y) represents the coordinates of the center left edge of the text string in units taken
from the plot axes.

For example, you can add y = sin(x) at the location (300,0.4) as:

» text(300,0.4,'y = sin(x)')
»

80
 1

0.8

0.6

0.4 y=sin(x)

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

Legends

Rather than using an individual text string to identify each graph, you may use a legend. The
legend command creates a legend box in the upper right corner of the plot and adds any text that
you supply to each line in your plot. If you wish to move the legend to a different location,
simply click and drag it to the desired location.

Example I.5.5.2:

» x = 0:0.01:2 * pi;
» y = sin(x);
» z = cos(x);
» plot(x, y, '-', x, z, '--')
» legend('- sin(x)', '-- cos(x)')
»

81
 1
- sin(x)
-- cos(x)
0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Remember

You can click and drag the legend box to any location that you desire.
To remove the legend, simply enter:
legend off

Remember

To remove the title, x-label, and y-label, enter:

xlabel(‘ ‘)
ylabel(‘ ‘)
title(‘ ‘)

The Axes Box

When you plot a function, the box is “ON.”

To remove the box, simply enter:
box off

82
 To add the box, simply enter:
box on
This is where the title goes.
1

0.8

0.6
This is where the y-label goes.

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
This is where the x-label goes.

Scaling Axes

MATLAB automatically scales the axes to fit your data set. To manually scale the axes, you can
use the axis command. This gives you complete control over the scaling and appearance of the
horizontal and vertical axes of your plot.

Scaling Axes
You can control the scales of the x and y axes by

axis([xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax])

which sets the minimum and maximum values for the horizontal and vertical axes.

Auto Scaling

83
The default scaling is automatic. However, if you have scaled the axes manually, you can always
go back to auto scaling by entering

axis auto

Axes “Off” and Axes “On”

You can turn the axes on or off. The default is on. To turn the axes off, enter

axis off

The axis command is a powerful way of controlling the appearance of your plot. In addition to
the above features, you can do much more. To get a complete list of what you can do with the
axis command, type “help axis” at the prompt in the Command Window.

I.5.6 Manipulating Plots

At this time, you should know how to plot more than one set of data on the same set of axes by
using the hold command. However, there are times when you would like to plot more than one
set of data on different sets of axes in the same window. This can be done by using the subplot
command. The subplot command divides the Figure Window into different areas defined by the
argument of the subplot. For example:

subplot(m,n,p)

divides the Figure Window into m ✖ n rectangular panes (m rows and n columns) and creates a
set of axes in the pth pane where the data will be plotted.

Example I.5.6.1:

» clear
» x = 0:0.01:2 * pi;
» y = sin(x);
» z = cos(x);
» zz = sin(x + pi / 4);
» subplot(2, 3, 1)
» plot(y)
» subplot(2, 3, 3)
» plot(z)

84
» subplot(2, 3, 5)
» plot(zz)
»

Plots of y, z, and zz will be in panes 1, 3, and 5, respectively.

1 1

0.5 0.5

0 0

-0.5 -0.5

-1 -1
0 500 1000 0 500 1000

0.5

-0.5

-1
0 500 1000

I am stuck in subplot, get me out !

Okay, just close the Figure Window by clicking the left mouse button on the top right
corner (X). After the Figure Window has closed, open it by entering the command figure(1) in
the Command Window. MATLAB will open a Figure Window that contains no plots. I hope
you learned your lesson and learned how to get out of trouble!

Zooming on Plots

The zoom command,

>>zoom on
is used to activate the interactive “zoom in” function of the MATLAB. Once this
command is entered, clicking the left mouse button on the plot will “zoom in” and clicking the
right mouse will “zoom out” the plot.

85
 1

Filling the Area 0

-1
0 2 4 6
You can fill in the area under the curve by using the area command.
» x=0:0.1:2*pi;
» y=sin(x);
» area(x,y)
»

Plotting on log-log and semi-log Scales

The loglog command is the same as the plot command except that the logarithmic scales are used
for both axes.

» x=1:2:1000;
» y=x.*x+2*x+300;
» loglog(x,y)
»

86
 6
10

5
10

4
10

3
10

2
10
0 1 2 3
10 10 10 10

The semilogx command is the same as the plot command except that the horizontal axis is a
logarithmic scale.

semilogx(x,y)

This command is the same as plot(x,y)

except that
the x-axis will be on a semi-log and the y-axis on a linear scale.

The semilogy command is the same as the plot command except that the vertical axis is a
logarithmic scale.

semilogy(x,y)

This command is the same as plot(x,y)

except that
the x-axis will be on a linear scale and the y-axis on a semi-log.

87
Pie Chart

pie(x)

Plots a pie chart of vector x.

pie(x,b)

b is a logical vector describing a slice or slices to be pulled out of the pie chart.

» x = [1 2 2 3 2];
» pie(x)
» subplot(2, 2, 1)
» pie(x)
» subplot(2, 2, 2)
» pie(x, x==min(x))
Bar Graphs

10% 10%
20% 20%

20% 20%

30% 30%
20% 20%

88
 bar(x,y)

This command is the same as plot(x,y)

except that
it plots a bar graph.

Printing Your Results

There are different ways of printing plots. The two most common ways are:

a) Click on the Figure Window, choose print from the File menu, or
b) Click on the Figure Window, then type print at the prompt on the Command Window.

In the latter, you can control the print orientation and size by using the following commands:

» orient landscape

This command tells the printer to change the printout orientation from portrait to landscape.

»orient tall

This command tells the printer to stretch the plot to fill the vertical page.

Teasers’ Answer
Teaser I.5.3.1

The argument of the plot command dictates how the x-axis is scaled. If a single argument is
used for the argument of the plot command, i.e., plot(y), then MATLAB uses the minimum and
the maximum values of x to scale the x-axis. If a pair of variables is used for the argument of the
plot command, i.e., plot(x,y), then MATLAB uses the number of points in the x vector to scale
the x-axis.

89
I.6 Three - Dimensional Graphics
I.6.1 Introduction

Three-dimensional (3D) data can be displayed in many different styles. Line, surface, and wire
mesh are examples of displaying 3D plots.

I.6.2 Line Plots

The plot3 command in MATLAB is used to display data using connected lines. A simplified
format for this command is:

The 3-D Line Plot Command

plot3(x, y, z, s)

The argument of plot3 is a fourtuple ( having four vectors), where x, y, and z are three vectors of
the same size. For each x, y, and z, there is a unique location in 3D space. The plot3 command
uses lines to connect these points with the style defined by s. If s is eliminated, then MATLAB
uses the default setting.

Example I.6.2.1:

» x = -10:0.01:10;
» y = sin(x);
» z = sin(x + pi / 3);
» plot3(y, z, x)
»title(‘Coil’), xlabel(‘sin(x)’), ylabel(‘(sin(x + pi / 3)’), zlabel(‘x’)

90
 Coil

10

0
x

−5

−10
1
0.5 1
0 0.5
0
−0.5
−0.5
(sin(x + pi / 3) −1 −1
sin(x)

You can plot more than one set of 3D data on the same set of axes. This can be done by adding
more fourtuples to the argument of the plot3 command. For example:

plot3(x1,y1,z1,s1,x2,y2,z2,s2)

displays two sets of three dimensional data, x1,y1,z1 and x2,y2,z2 using styles s1 an s2,
respectively. The line types, line colors, and marker symbols are specified by s in the argument
of plot3. A set of line styles, colors, and markers is given in the following table:

Table I.6.2.1

Symbol Color Symbol Marker Symbol Line Style

y yellow
m magenta
c cyan
r red
g green
b blue
w white
k black
. point - solid
o circle : dotted
x x-mark -. dashdot
+ plus -- dashed
* star
s square
d diamond
v triangle (down)
^ triangle (up)
< triangle (left)
> triangle (right)
p pentagram
h hexagram

91
Example I.6.2.2:

» x = -10:0.1:10;
» y1 = sin(x);
» z1 = sin(x + pi / 3);
» y2 = sin(x + pi / 4);
» z2 = sin(x + pi / 6);
» plot3(y1, z1, x, '-', y1, y2, x, '+')
» title('Tangled Coils')
» xlabel('y1')
» ylabel(‘z1, y2')
»
Tangled Coils

10

−5

−10
1
0.5 1
0 0.5
0
−0.5
−0.5
z1, y2 −1 −1
y1

I.6.3 Mesh Plots

Mesh plots are useful for plotting functions of two variables such as z =f (x,y).The mesh surface
is defined by the z-coordinates of points above a rectangular grid in the x-y plane. The mesh
command forms a plot by joining adjacent points with straight lines. There are four steps
involved in generating mesh plots:

Step 1. Define a desired range for two variables, say x and y.

Step 2. Use the meshgrid command to generate a mesh related to x and y:

[x, y] = meshgrid(x, y).

Step 3. Evaluate the function f(x, y), say z = sqrt(x * x + y * y).

92
Step 4. Use the mesh command to plot the mesh corresponding to z: mesh(x, y, z).

Example I.6.3.1

Plot a mesh graph for

z= x 2 + y 2 over the range -10≤

≤ x ≤ 10 and -10 ≤ y ≤10.

» x = -10:1:10;
» y = x;
» [x, y] = meshgrid(x, y);
» z = sqrt(x.^2 + y.^2);
» mesh(x, y, z)
»

15

10

0
10
5 10
0 5
0
−5
−5
−10 −10

I.6.4 Surface Plots

A surface plot is the same as a mesh plot except that the patches (the space between the lines) are
filled with a specified (or default) color. All of the steps involved in plotting a surface graph are
the same as the ones for mesh plots except for step 4, where mesh is replaced by surf.

Step 1. Define a desired range for two variables, say x and y.

Step 2. Use the meshgrid command to generate a mesh related to x and y:

[x, y] = meshgrid(x, y).

93
Step 3. Evaluate the function f(x, y), say z = sqrt(x * x + y * y).

Step 4. Use the surf command to plot the surface corresponding to z: surf(x, y, z).

Example I.6.4.1:

Plot a surface graph for

z= x 2 + y 2 over the range -10≤

≤ x ≤ 10 and -10 ≤ y ≤10.

» x = -10:1:10;
» y = x;
» [x, y] = meshgrid(x, y);
» z = sqrt(x.^2 + y.^2);
» surf(x, y, z)
»

15

10

0
10
5 10
0 5
0
−5
−5
−10 −10

94
I.6.5 Contour Plots
The contour command draws a contour plot of a function of two variables such as z=f(x,y). The
number of contour lines and their values are chosen automatically by the contour command.

The Contour Command

contour(x, y, z, n)

where z is a function of x and y. The parameter n defines the number of contours to be plotted by
the contour command. However, if n is deleted, then the contour command automatically
chooses the number of contours. The steps involved in drawing a contour plot of a function of
two variables are the same steps used for mesh plots except in step 4., where the mesh command
is replaced by the contour command.

Step 1. Define a desired range for two variables, say x and y.

Step 2. Use the meshgrid command to generate a mesh related to x and y:

[x, y] = meshgrid(x, y).

Step 3. Evaluate the function f(x, y), say z = sqrt(x * x + y * y).

Step 4. Use the contour command to plot the contours corresponding to z:

contour(x, y, z).

Example I.6.5.1

Plot a contour graph for

z= x 2 + y 2 over the range -10≤

≤ x ≤ 10 and -10 ≤ y ≤10.

» x = -10:1:10;
» y = x;
» [x, y] = meshgrid(x, y);
» z = sqrt(x.^2 + y.^2);
» contour(x, y, z)
»

95
 10

−2

−4

−6

−8

−10
−10 −8 −6 −4 −2 0 2 4 6 8 10

If you want to apply a larger number of contours, simply specify the desired number in the last
argument of the contour command. For example, to plot 20 contours, type

contour(x, y, z, 20) instead of contour(x, y, z).

I.6.6 Three-Dimensional Contour Plots

To produce a 3-D contour of a 3D function, you can use the contour3 command. The argument
of the contour3 command is the same as the argument of the contour command. The steps
involved in generating a 3-D contour plot are the same as those of the mesh command except that
in step 4, the mesh command is replaced by the contour3 command.

Step 1. Define a desired range for two variables, say x and y.

Step 2. Use the meshgrid command to generate a mesh related to x and y:

[x, y] = meshgrid(x, y).

Step 3. Evaluate the function f(x, y), say z = sqrt(x * x + y * y).

Step 4. Use the contour3 command to plot the 3-D contours corresponding to z:
contour3(x, y, z).

96
Example I.6.6.1

Plot a 3-D contour plot for

z= x 2 + y 2 over the range -10≤

≤ x ≤ 10 and -10 ≤ y ≤10.

» x = -10:1:10;
» y = x;
» [x, y] = meshgrid(x, y);
» z = sqrt(x.^2 + y.^2);
» contour3(x, y, z)
»

14

12

10

2
10
5 10
0 5
0
−5
−5
−10 −10

97