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Raising a new Generation of Leaders

EIE 325
USE OF ENGINEERING
PACKAGES
GETTING STARTED WITH MATLAB
Lecturers: Mrs Temitope Takpor & Mrs Mercy Kayode
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 Getting Started with MATLAB
• When you start MATLAB®, the desktop appears in its default layout

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Getting Started with MATLAB - Desktop

• The desktop includes these panels:
• Current Folder — Access your files.
• Command Window — Enter commands at the command line,
indicated by the prompt (>>).
• Workspace — Explore data that you create or import from files. It
shows all the variables you have defined in your current session.
Variables can actually be manipulated within the workspace window.

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MATLAB Desktop
• As you work in MATLAB, you issue commands that create variables
and call functions. For example, create a variable named a by typing
this statement at the command line:
a=1
• MATLAB adds variable a to the workspace and displays the result in
the Command Window.
a=

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MATLAB Desktop
• Create a few more variables
b=1
b=

c=a+b
c=

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Getting Started with MATLAB

• Create a few more variables
b=1
b=

c=a+b
c=

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MATLAB Desktop
d = cos (a)
d=

0.5403

• When you do not specify an output variable, MATLAB uses the variable ans, short
for answer, to store the results of your calculation.
sin (a)
ans =

0.8415

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MATLAB Desktop
• If you end a statement with a semicolon, MATLAB performs the
computation, but suppresses the display of output in the Command
Window.
e = a*b;
• You can recall previous commands by pressing the up- and down-
arrow keys, ↑ and ↓. Press the arrow keys either at an empty command
line or after you type the first few characters of a command. For
example, to recall the command b = 2, type b, and then press the up-
arrow key.

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MATLAB Basic Arithmetic Operations

• Addition (+), Subtraction (-), Multiplication (*), Division (/), Power (^)
• Order of Operations (same rules you should already know from math
class and using a calculator).
• Complete all calculations inside parenthesis or brackets using the
precedent rules. BODMAS rule (brackets, order, division, multiplication,
addition, subtraction).

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MATLAB Basic Arithmetic Operations

▪ Some examples:

>> 20/4*2

>> 4*3^2+4*(2)

>> -1^4

>> 8^1/3
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MATLAB Basic Arithmetic Operations

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MATLAB Basic Arithmetic Operations

• Note the multiplication * operator before the brackets
>> 4*3^2+4*(2)

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MATLAB Basic Arithmetic Operations

• Exercise:

• Calculate the area and circumference of a circle with a radius of 6 cm

in MATLAB.

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