TABLE OF CONTENTS This appendix is an introduction of the basic MATLAB commands and functions, procedures for naming and saving the user generated files, comment lines, access to MATLAB s Editor/ Debugger, finding the roots of a polynomial, and making plots. Several examples are provided with detailed explanations.
To distinguish the screen displays from the user commands, important terms and MATLAB functions, we will use the following conventions:
Click: Click the left button of the mouse
Courier Font: Screen displays
Helvetica Font: User inputs at MATLAB s command window prompt EDU>> [*]
Helvetica Bold: MATLAB functions
Bold Italic: Important terms and facts, notes, and file names
When we first start MATLAB, we see the toolbar on top of the command screen and the prompt EDU>>. This prompt is displayed also after execution of a command; MATLAB now waits for a new command from the user. We can use the Editor/Debugger to write our program, save it, and return to the command screen to execute the program as explained below.
To use the Editor/Debugger:
From the File menu on the toolbar, we choose New and click on M-File. This takes us to the Editor Window where we can type our script (list of statements) for a new file, or open a previously saved file. We must save our program with a file name which starts with a letter. Important! MATLAB is case sensitive, that is, it distinguishes between upper- and lower-case letters. Thus, t and T are two different...
