Matlab’s Interpreter Environment

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• Misc
  • Math Educators Forum
    • New student club re K-12 math certification
    • Interest meeting Tuesday, Sept. 15, 7:30 PM, South 328
  • Math 101
    • “Welcome to the major” seminar
    • Good for 1st semester students early in major to take
• Questions?
• Matlab Interpreter
  • Section 1.1
    • Matlab is interactive environment - interpreter
    • Can store values in names - variables
    • Managing interpreter
      • clc - clear commands
      • clear - erase variables
      • diary - record session
      • format long (format short) - numeric precision
    • Syntax
      • Semicolon to suppress output
      • Space doesn’t matter
  • Examples
    

    >> format compact
    >> % What happens if you rename something built in to Matlab?
    >> sin( pi/2 )
    ans =
         1
    >> sin = 0
    sin =
         0
    >> sin( pi/2 )
    {Subscript indices must either be real positive
    integers or logicals.} 
    >> % 2x + 1
    >> x = 2
    x =
         2
    >> 2x + 1
     2x + 1
      |
    {Error: Unexpected MATLAB expression.
    } 
    >> 2*x + 1
    ans =
         5
    >> % x squared + 1
    >> x^2 + 1
    ans =
         5
    >> x = 4
    x =
         4
    >> x^2 + 1
    ans =
        17
    >> x * x + 1
    ans =
        17
    >> % square root
    >> x ^ 1/2
    ans =
         2
    >> x = 36
    x =
        36
    >> x ^ 1/2
    ans =
        18
    >> x ^ (1/2)
    ans =
         6
    >> x ^ 0.5
    ans =
         6
    >> sqrt( x )
    ans =
         6
    >> % Pythagorean Theorem: c = square root of a squared + b squared
    >> c = sqrt( a^2 + b^2 )
    {Undefined function or variable 'a'.} 
    >> a = 3;
    >> b =4;
    >> c = sqrt( a^2 + b^2 )
    c =
         5

• Next
  • What’s going on in the computer when you run Matlab?
  • Read sections 1.2 - 1.5 in textbook

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