MATLAB(1L)

NAME

matlab - ``matrix laboratory'' for interactive scientific computation

SYNOPSIS

matlab [-display hostname:0]

DESCRIPTION

MATLAB is an interactive ``matrix laboratory'' for tasks involving matrices, graphics and general numerical computation. It reads commands from the standard input, as well as from files known as M-files, ASCII files with an extension of .m. Collections of M-files which extend MATLAB's applicability to specialized fields are known as toolboxes.

For a complete description of MATLAB, see



published The MathWorks, Inc., the developers and distributors of MATLAB. This manual page just describes a few highlights.

When you're inside MATLAB, typing



to the MATLAB prompt `>>' will give a list of commands and functions. Typing help, followed by the name of one of the commands or functions will give a short description of that facility. Typing help, followed by the name of a directory will give synopses of all the commands and functions in that directory.

Typing



will give a menu of demonstrations.

To exit MATLAB type quit or exit.

MATLAB is also a scientific programming language, with some of the elements of languages like Algol, Fortran, Pascal and C. One important distinction is that the only data type in MATLAB is the matrix, a rectangular array of possibly complex floating point values, which need not be dimensioned, and whose size and shape can vary dynamically. In some situations, special meaning is attached to n-by-1 matrices, columns, to 1-by-n matrices, rows, to 1-by-1 matrices, scalars, to matrices of ASCII characters, strings, and even to empty 0-by-0 matrices.

Here are a few sample statements:

A = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 0] b = [exp(1), 1.0e-6, 4*atan(1)]' x = A\b [V,D] = eig(A), norm(A-V*D/V) help eig help \ for j = 1:6, for k = 1:6, H(j,k) = 1/(j+k-1); end, end x = -pi: pi/100: pi; plot(x, tan(sin(x))-sin(tan(x))); load F44.dat, contour(F44)

OPTIONS

  • -display hostname:0 allows you to specify the display on which MATLAB's output is to be displayed. For example, -display falstaff:0 will cause MATLAB's output to be displayed on the host named falstaff.

    FILES

    The following directories are subdirectories of the top-level matlab directory whose precise location is determined during the MATLAB installation procedure.
  • matlab/bin contains the shell scripts for MATLAB and related tools, as well as the executable images which they use.
  • matlab/.scripts contains the source for the shell scripts in matlab/bin which are customized during the installation procedure.
  • matlab/man contains the source for this and other manual pages.
  • matlab/extern contains libraries, source, and examples for the MATLAB external interface library, which allow you to call C or Fortran subroutines from MATLAB, or to use the MATLAB computational engine from another program.
  • matlab/etc contains programs and data files used by the License Manager.
  • matlab/app-defaults contains X Windows parameters for MATLAB and SIMULINK.
  • matlab/toolbox contains subdirectories of M-files which both define many of MATLAB's basic capabilities, and extend it into specialized areas. The list of toolboxes available on a particular system will vary with licensing arrangements made through The MathWorks. The toolboxes subdirectories may include:
  • matlab/toolbox/local Capabilities developed at a local installation.
  • matlab/toolbox/demo Demonstrations, accessed by the demo command.
  • matlab/toolbox/simulink, blocks, and simdemos M-files associated with the SIMULINK simulation system.
  • matlab/toolbox/signal Signal processing.
  • matlab/toolbox/control Control theory.
  • matlab/toolbox/optim Optimization.
  • matlab/toolbox/spline Piecewise polynomials.
  • matlab/toolbox/ident System identification.
  • matlab/toolbox/ssident More system identification.
  • matlab/toolbox/rct Robust-Control Toolbox.
  • matlab/toolbox/mutools Mu-Synthesis and Analysis.
  • matlab/toolbox/chem Chemometrics Toolbox.

    FURTHER INFORMATION

    Contact The MathWorks, Inc. Cochituate Place 24 Prime Park Way Natick, MA 01760

    508-653-1415

    info@mathworks.com

    SEE ALSO

    CMEX(1), FMEX(1), LMHOSTID(1), LMSTART(1), LMDOWN(1), LMSTAT(1), LMREREAD(1)