We present here the most commonly used MATLAB objects in six categories: operators, built-in constants, built-in functions, commands, graphics commands, and MATLAB programming constructs. After this we list the most important Simulink commands and blocks. Though MATLAB does not distinguish between commands and functions, it is convenient to think of a MATLAB function as we normally think of mathematical functions. A MATLAB function is something that can be evaluated or plotted; a command is something that manipulates data or expressions or that initiates a process.

We list each operator, function, and command together with a short description of its effect, followed by one or more examples. Many MATLAB commands can appear in a number of different forms, because you can apply them to different kinds of objects. In our examples, we have illustrated the most commonly used forms of the commands. Many commands also have numerous optional arguments; in this Glossary, we have included only some very common options. You can find a full description of all forms of a command, and get a more complete accounting of all the optional arguments available for it, by reading the help text which you can access by typing either help or doc .

This Glossary is not comprehensive. We have selected those MATLAB commands that play a prominent role in this book, or that we believe will be most helpful to the user. You can find a more comprehensive list in the Help Browser.