Introduction to MATLAB software.

Objectives
• This lab is designed to give you a quick way to become familiar with the MATLAB software
by introducing you the basic features, commands, and functions.
• In this lab, you will discover that entering and solving complex numbers in MATLAB is as
easy as entering and solving real numbers, especially with the help of MATLAB built-in
complex functions.
• The lab is intended to be very interactive. You should have the required software running
while you are reading the pages, and you should perform along with the examples.
• Upon completion, you should know how to start MATLAB, how to get HELP, how to assign
variables in MATLAB and to perform the typical complex numbers operations (i.e., complex
conjugate, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, expression simplification) and the
conversions of complex numbers in both rectangular and polar forms with and without using
MATLAB built-in functions.

Equipment Required
1) Computer
2) MATLAB software

Introduction

MATLAB, which stands for Matrix Laboratory, is a very powerful program for performing
numerical and symbolic calculations, and is widely used in science and engineering, as well as in
mathematics.
1.1 What is MATLAB
A high-performance language for technical computing.
Typical uses of MATLAB:
• Mathematical computations.
• Algorithmic development.
• Model prototyping (prior to complex model development).
• Data analysis and exploration of data (visualization). Scientific and engineering graphics
for presentation.
• Complex analysis using MATLAB toolboxes (i.e., statistics,
• neural networks, fuzzy logic, H-infinity control, economics, etc.) .

1.3 Why is MATLAB Good for Me?

1
 • Because it simplifies the analysis of mathematical models .
• It frees you from coding in high-level languages (saves a lot of time - with some computational speed
penalties)
• Provides an extensible programming/visualization environment.
• Provides professional looking graphs.
• Provide a lot of toolbox that help me.
• MATLAB is usually faster than Mathematica and Maple in numeric intensive tasks.
• MATLAB has more textbooks than other packages combined (350+ books). Perhaps this speaks on
the acceptance by the user community.

1.4 Basics of the Technical Language

• MATLAB is a technical language to ease scientific computations.
• The name is derived from MATrix LABoratory .
• It provides many of the attributes of spreadsheets and programming languages.
• MATLAB is a case sensitive language (a variable named “c” is different than another one called “C”).
• In interactive mode MATLAB scripts are platform independent (good for cross platform portability).
• MATLAB works with matrices.
• Everything MATLAB understands is a matrix (from text to large cell arrays and structure arrays).

2
 1.5 The MATLAB Environment

Workspace
Command Window
Current
Folder

Command
History

1.6 Basic Components of the MATLAB Environment

MATLAB has the following basic window components:
• Command Window
- to execute commands in the MATLAB environment
• Current Directory Window
- to quickly access files on the MATLAB path
• Figure Window
- to display graphical output from MATLAB code
• Workspace Window
- to view variable definitions and variable memory allocations
• Command History Window
- displays all commands issued in MATLAB since the last session (good for learning and
verification)

3
 Getting Started

• When MATLAB starts the MATLAB prompt >> appears.

• All MATLAB commands are executed from this prompt.

>> 2.3+4.2 ans =

6.5000

• MATLAB assigns the result to variable name ‘ans’. A percent sign is a comment and is
ignored.

>> 1+2 ans =

3

• By default MATLAB returns numerical expressions as decimals with 5 digits. The format
function is used to change the format of the output. Type format rat to have MATLAB return
rational expressions.

>> format rat >>

5.1-3.3 ans =
9/5

• To eliminate the extra spacing type format compact.

>> format compact
>> 5*7
ans =
35

• Operators and Special Characters

+ Plus; addition operator.

- Minus; subtraction operator.
* Scalar and matrix multiplication operator.
/ division operator
.* Array multiplication operator.
^ Scalar and matrix exponentiation operator.
.^ Array exponentiation operator.
: Colon; generates regularly spaced elements and represents an entire row or column.
() Parentheses; encloses function arguments and array indices; overrides precedence.
[] Brackets; enclosures array elements.
. Decimal point.

4
 … Ellipsis; line-continuation operator.
, Comma; separates statements and elements in a row.
; Semicolon; separates columns and suppresses display.
= Assignment (replacement) operator.

>> 2^7 ans =

128

• A semi-colon (;) after an expression suppresses the output.

>> 2+5 ans =
7
>> 2+5 ;

• MATLAB has most standard mathematical functions built-in. The sqrt function computes the
square root.

>> sqrt(2)
ans =
1.4142

The basic trigonometric functions (cos, sin, tan, sec, csc, cot), their inverses (acos, asin, atan,
asec, acsc, acot), the exponential function exp, and the natural logarithm log are also built-in.
For instance, ln(4)+cos(π/6) is computed as follows.

>>
log(4)+cos(pi/6)
ans =
2.2523
• For information about any MATLAB function, type help followed by the name of the function.
>> help abs
ABS Absolute value.
ABS(X) is the absolute value of the elements of X. When
X is complex, ABS(X) is the complex modulus (magnitude)
of the elements of X.

• To avoid having to retype long expressions use the up arrow key to scroll through lines
previously typed. Typing one or more characters and then the up arrow key displays previous
lines that begin with those characters.

3 Variables

5
• To assign a value to a variable in MATLAB simply type the name of the variable, followed by
the assignment operator, =, followed by the value.

>> x=9
x=
9

• Note that variable names in MATLAB are case sensitive, so X and x are not equal.
• We can perform all of the usual operations with x.
>> x^2-3*x+2
ans =
56
>> log(x) ans =
2.1972 >> sin(x)
ans =
0.4121

New variables may be defined using existing variables.

>> y=x*3+6
y=
33

• This, however, does not imply any permanent relationship between x and y. If we change x,
the value of y does not change.

>>
x=x+36 x
= 45
>> y y =
33

• The command who returns a list of all variables in the current workspace, while whos returns
the same list with more detailed information about each variable.

6
 >> who
Your variables are:
ans x y
>> whos
Name Size Bytes Class
Attributes

ans 1x1 8 double

x 1x1 8 double
y 1x1 8 double

Notice that the size of each variable is 1×1. All variables in MATLAB are matrices. Scalars
such as x and y are just 1×1 matrices. We will explain how to enter matrices in the next section.
To clear one or more variables from the workspace, type clear followed by the names of the
variables. Typing just clear clears all variables.

>> clear
>> who
>> x
??? Undefined
function or
variable 'x'.

MATLAB Operations and Conventions

• Expressions follow the standard order of precedence
▪ Exponentiation
▪ Multiplication and division
▪ Addition and subtraction
• Expressions are evaluated from left to right
• Parentheses work from inner to outer

4. Matrices and Vectors

To enter a matrix in MATLAB, use square brackets and separate entries within a row by spaces
or colon and separate rows using semicolons.

7
 >> A=[2 1 -1 8; 1 0 8 -3; 7 1 2 4]
A=
2 1 -1 8
1 0 8 -3
7 1 2
4
Often we do not want MATLAB to display a response, especially when dealing with very large
matrices. To suppress the output, place a semicolon at the end of the line. Typing
>> B=[2 0 -3; -1 1 3];

To view the contents of the variable B, just type its name.

>> B
B=
2 0 -3
-1 1 3
Vectors (column vectors) are simply matrices with a single column.
>> v = [ 2; 3; -4] v =
2
3
-4

A row vector is a matrix with a single row.

>> w=[3 -2 5 11]

w=
3 -2 5 11

It is often necessary to define vectors with evenly spaced entries. In MATLAB, the colon (:)
provides a shorthand for creating such vectors.

>> 2:5
ans =
2 3 4
5
Typing j:i:k defines a row vector with increment i starting at j and ending at k.
>> 3:2:9
ans =
3 5 7 9

In MATLAB, A' represents the transpose of the matrix A.

8
 >> A=[5 -2 9; 11 7 8]
A=
5 -2 9
11 7 8
>> A'
ans =
5 11
-2 7
9 8

The entry in row i, column j of a matrix A is A(i,j).

>> A=[3 -2 7 8; 4 3 2 1; 10 15 -2 9]
A=
3 -2 7 8
4 3 2 1
10 15 -2 9

>> A(3,2)
ans =
15

It is also possible to view multiple entries within any row or column. For instance, the second
and fourth entries in the third row are accessed as follows.

>> A(3,[2 4])

ans =
15 9
Row i of A is A(i,:) and column j of A is A(:,j).

>> A(3,:)
ans =
10 15 -2 9
>> A(:,3)
ans =
7
2
-2

Next we display the first, second and fourth columns.

>> A(:,[1 2 4]) ans =
3 -2 8
4 3 1
10 15 9

9
 The entries of a vector (row or column) may be accessed using a single index.
>> w=[7; 13; 11]
w=
7
13
11
>> w(2)
ans =
13

Matrices with the same number of rows may be concatenated horizontally, and matrices with the
same number of columns may be concatenated vertically.

>> A=[1 2 3; 4 5 6]
A=
1 2 3
4 5 6
>> B=[7 8; 9 10]
B=
7 8
9 10
>> [A B]
ans =
1 2 3 7 8
4 5 6 9 10
>> C=[7 8 9]
C=
7 8 9
>> [A;C]
ans =
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9

To remove rows or columns from a matrix, simply redefine them to be empty matrices.
>> A=[ 4 7 2 1 3; 8 7
12 -2 5; 11 1 14 -2 0]
A=
4 7 2 1 3
8 7 12 -2 5
11 1 14 -2
0
>> A(2,:)=[]
A=
4 7 2 1 3
11 1 14 -2
0

10
 >> A(:,[1 3])=[]
A=
7 1 3
1 -2 0
The following matrix operations are available.

+ Addition
- Subtraction
* Multiplication
^ Power
‘ Transpose (real) or conjugate transpose (complex)
.’ transpose (real or complex)
\ left division
/ right division

If A is an invertible square matrix and b is a compatible column vector, or respectively a

compatible row vector, then x = A\b is the solution of A * x = b x = b/A is the solution of x
*A=b

3.1 Entry-Wise Operations

The matrix operations addition and subtraction are already entry-wise but the other operations are
not; they are matrix operations. The other operations, *, ^, \, / can be made to operate entrywise by
preceding them with a point.
>> B=[1 2 ; 3 4]
B=
1 2
3 4
>> B*B
ans =
7 10
15 22
>> B.*B
ans =
1 4
9 16

11
 3.2 Matrix Building Functions

Table1: Some matrix building functions.

Eye Identity matrix

Zeros Matrix of zeros
Ones Matrix of ones
Triu Upper triangular part of a matrix
Tril Lower triangular part of a matrix
Rand Matrix with random elements

For example,

>> zeros(2,3)
ans =
0 0 0
0 0 0
>> rand(4)
ans =
0.8147 0.6324 0.9575 0.9572
0.9058 0.0975 0.9649 0.4854
0.1270 0.2785 0.1576 0.8003
0.9134 0.5469 0.9706 0.1419
>> triu(A)
ans =
2 1 -1 8
0 0 8 -
3 0 0 2
4

4. Complex number
Entering complex numbers from the keyboard has to be done carefully. The symbol "i" identifies the
imaginary part and has to be typed immediately after the numerical value of the imaginary part: for
example, 2 + 3i . If you insert a space - for instance, 2 + 3 i - it looks like the same expression but it
will be processed as a number ( 2 + 3 ) and a string ( i ), and not as the complex number (2 + 3i). It
is also important to point out that termination with the character i only works with simple numbers,
not expressions. For example, the expression ( 1 - 2i)i has no meaning to MATLAB. If you want to
multiply a complex expression by i, you have to use the multiplication operation symbol (*). In the
example above, you must write ( 1 - 2i)*i . Similarly, the number 1 - sin(2)i has no meaning for
MATLAB. It has to be written as 1 - sin(2)*i to make sense to the program.
Note: you can use j instead of i.

12
 >> z=-3-4i
z=
-3.0000 - 4.0000i >>
theta=angle(z)*180/pi
theta = -
126.8699

Functions for Complex Numbers

Table2: some complex building function.

Command This returns the
Complex(x,y) Return a complex number x+yi
real(x) real part of a complex number
imag(x) imaginary part of a complex number
Abs(x) magnitude of the complex number
angle(x) angle of a complex number x
conj(x) complex conjugate of the complex number x
Cart2pol Convert Cartesian to Polar form of complex number
Pol2cart Convert Polar to Cartesian form of complex number

5. Control Flow Statements

5.1 Relations
The relational operators in MATLAB are:

< Less than

> Greater than
<= less than or equal
>= greater than or equal
== Equal
~= not equal

13
Note that ‘=’ is a direct assignment while ‘= =’ is the logical equal. Relations may be connected or
quantified by the logical operators

& and
| or
~ not

5.2 Variable Controlled Loops (for)

The general form is

for variable = first: inc: last statements end

If the increment ‘inc’ is not specified, a default value of 1 is used.

For example

x=[ ];
for i=1:4
x=[x,i^2]
end

x=
1
x=
1 4
x=
1 4 9
x=
1 4 9 16

5.3 Relational Controlled Loops (while)

The general form is

while relation statements end

14
 i=0
while i<3
i=i+1
end

i=
1i
=
2i
=
3

5.4 Branching (if)

The general form is,

if relation
true alternative
else
false alternative
end

if 1>2
a=1 else
a=2
end a =
2

5.5 Switch

MATLAB includes a switch structure. The general form is

switch variable case value 1

statement group 1 case value 2
statement group 2
…
otherwise last
statement group end

For example, try the following script M-file

angle = 75;
switch angle

15
 case 0
disp('East') case
90
disp('North')
case 180
disp('West') case
270
disp('South')
otherwise
disp('Your lost')
end

>> switchangle
Your lost

5.6 Break and Return

The ‘break’ command causes the enclosed loop – either a ‘for’ or ‘while’ loop – to terminate.

The ‘return’ command causes the currently executing function M-file to terminate.

6. Plotting

6.1 Basic Two-Dimensional Plot

MATLAB has extensive plotting capabilities. We will examine a simple two-dimensional plot and
add features. The ‘plot’ command graphs the numbers in one array versus the numbers in a second
array of the same length. For example,

t=0:0.01:2;
Temp=exp(-t);
plot(t,Temp)
xlabel('Time')
ylabel('Life')
title('Our destiney')

16
 Signals and Systems Lab 1
Our destiney
1

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
Time

6.2 Colors, Symbols and Line Types

Short Long name
name
y Yellow
m Magenta
c Cyan
r Red
g Green
b Blue
w White
k black

You can change colors, symbols and line types as demonstrated below

x=0:pi/16:2*pi;
y=sin(x);
plot(x,y,'r *--')
xlabel('x')
ylabel('sin(x)')

17
Signals and Systems Lab 1

6.2 Multiple Plots on a Single Graph

x=0:pi/16:2*pi;
y1=sin(x);
y2=cos(x);
plot(x,y1,'* -',x,y2,'r s ')
xlabel('x')
ylabel('sin(x), cos(x)')
title('Trig Functions')
legend('sin','cos')

6.3 Subplots

18
 Signals and Systems Lab 1
You can create graphics arrays using the ‘subplot’ command.
x=0:pi/16:2*pi;
y1=sin(x);
y2=cos(x);

subplot(2,1,1)
plot(x,y1,'* -')
xlabel('x')
ylabel('sin(x)')
subplot(2,1,2)
plot(x,y2,'r s -')
xlabel('x')
ylabel('cos(x)')

19
 Signals and Systems Lab 1

Exercise
Please carefully read the following question and implement it using Matlab , attach all your work
in the report .

2- If you have the matrix H and the matrix G as follow?

G=

H =
-1 -5
-3 9
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 9

Extract the following Matrix using G and H

i= z=
-3 9 -1 -5 3
1 2 -3 9 4
3 4 1 2 7
3 4 9
5 6 -3
7 9 9
x= k=

1 2 5 1 3
3 4 7 -1 -3
-1 -3 1 -5 9
-5 9 2

3- Write the code that make the following plot

20
Signals and Systems Lab 1

(Hint: use function find, length abs)

Just for your information

Here is how we graph the fuction z(x,y) = x exp( - x^2 - y^2)
>> [x,y] = meshgrid(-2:.2:2, -2:.2:2);
>> z = x .* exp(-x.^2 - y.^2);
>> surf(x,y,z)

21
Signals and Systems Lab 1

The first command creates a matrix whose entries are the points of a grid in the square -2 <= x <= 2, -
2 <= y <= 2. The small squares which make up the grid are 0.2 units wide and 0.2 unit tall. The
second command creates a matrix whose entries are the values of the function z(x,y) at the grid
points. The third command uses this information to construct the graph.

CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION:

…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Score Card
Performance Viva Report
Maximum Marks
Obtained Marks

Instructor Signature: ___________________________

22