Basic Commands of Matlab

A Beginner's Guide to Basic MATLAB Commands

MATLAB, which stands for MATrix LABoratory, is a powerful tool for technical computing. It integrates computation, visualization, and programming, making it an essential tool for engineers, scientists, and anyone involved in numerical analysis. In this blog, we’ll walk through some basic commands and concepts in MATLAB, explained in a simple way for beginners.

Getting Started with MATLAB

Opening MATLAB

To start MATLAB, simply click on its icon on your desktop or find it in your list of applications.

MATLAB Interface

• Command Window: The main area where you type and execute commands.
• Workspace: Shows all the variables you have created.
• Command History: Keeps a record of all the commands you’ve entered.

Basic Commands

Arithmetic Operations

MATLAB is designed for matrix and vector operations. Here are some basic arithmetic operations:

• Addition: Use the + symbol. For example, 5 + 3 results in 8.
• Subtraction: Use the - symbol. For example, 10 - 2 results in 8.
• Multiplication: Use the * symbol. For example, 4 * 3 results in 12.
• Division: Use the / symbol. For example, 20 / 4 results in 5.
• Power: Use the ^ symbol. For example, 2 ^ 3 results in 8.

Working with Variables

Variables store data values. Here’s how to work with them:

• Assigning Variables: Use the = symbol. For example, x = 10 assigns the value 10 to the variable x.
• Clearing Variables: Use clear x to remove the variable x or clear to remove all variables.
• Checking Variables: Use who to list all variables and whos to list all variables with details.

Vectors and Matrices

MATLAB is excellent for matrix operations. Here’s how to create and manipulate them:

• Row Vector: Use square brackets with spaces. For example, [1 2 3 4 5] creates a row vector.
• Column Vector: Use square brackets with semicolons. For example, [1; 2; 3; 4; 5] creates a column vector.
• Matrix: Use square brackets with semicolons to separate rows. For example, [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 9] creates a 3x3 matrix.
• Accessing Elements: Use parentheses with row and column indices. For example, M(2,3) accesses the element in the second row and third column of matrix M.
• Matrix Operations: Use M' to transpose a matrix M and sum(v) to sum the elements of vector v.

Functions and Scripts

Functions and scripts automate tasks and organize code.

• Creating a Script: Go to the Home tab, click on New Script, write your code, and save it with a .m extension.
• Creating a Function: Use the following structure:

  function y = myFunction(x)
      y = x^2 + 3*x + 5;
  end

• This defines a function myFunction that takes x as an input and returns y.

• Running a Script or Function: Type the name of the script or function in the Command Window. For example, myScript to run a script or myFunction(2) to call the function with argument 2.

Plotting

MATLAB is powerful for creating visualizations.

• Basic Plot: Use the plot function. For example,

  x = 0:0.1:10;   % Creates a vector from 0 to 10 with steps of 0.1
  y = sin(x);
  plot(x, y) 
   
  This plots the sine wave.

• Adding Titles and Labels: Use title, xlabel, and ylabel. For example,

  title('Sine Wave')
  xlabel('x-axis')
  ylabel('y-axis')  
   
                                          The End!