John Paul Mueller - MATLAB For Dummies

MATLAB For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright 2021 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2021938618

ISBN: 978-1-119-79688-6

ISBN 978-1-119-79689-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-79690-9 (ebk)

1. Chapter 3
2. Chapter 5
3. Chapter 6
4. Chapter 7
5. Chapter 12
6. Chapter 14
7. Chapter 17
8. Chapter 19
9. Appendix A
10. Appendix B

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 11
11. Chapter 12
12. Chapter 13
13. Chapter 14
14. Chapter 15
15. Chapter 16
16. Chapter 17
17. Chapter 18
18. Chapter 19
19. Chapter 20

MATLAB is an amazing product that helps you perform math-related tasks of all sorts using the same techniques that youd use if you were performing the task manually (using pencil and paper, slide rule, or abacus if necessary, but more commonly using a calculator). However, MATLAB makes it possible to perform these tasks at a speed that only a computer can provide. In addition, using MATLAB reduces errors, streamlines many tasks, and makes you more efficient.

More important, MATLAB makes sharing your efforts with others incredibly easy. You can use Live Scripts to create report-like output that management can understand, or to develop apps for coworkers to employ when performing their tasks.

MATLAB is also a big product with numerous tools and features that you might never have used in the past. For example, instead of simply working with numbers, you have the ability to plot them in a variety of ways that help you communicate the significance of your data to other people. To get the most from MATLAB, you really need a book like MATLAB For Dummies, 2nd Edition.

The main purpose of MATLAB For Dummies, 2nd Edition is to reduce the learning curve that comes with using a product that offers as much as MATLAB does. When you first start MATLAB, you might become instantly overwhelmed by everything you see. This book helps you get past that stage and become productive quickly so that you can get back to performing amazing feats of math wizardry.

In addition, this book introduces you to techniques that you might not know about or even consider because you havent been exposed to them before. For example, MATLAB provides a rich plotting environment that helps you not only communicate better but also present numeric information in a manner that helps others see your perspective.

Using scripts and functions will also reduce the amount of work you have to do. This book shows you how to create custom code, which you can use to customize the environment to meet your specific needs. This edition introduces you to Live Scripts and Live Functions, which enable you to combine code and output into a single report-like version that everyone can use, even if they dont necessarily understand the math. Using classes helps you package your code to make it easier to reuse and understand. If you want to create a form of your code that is accessible to coworkers and people who may not want to know why something works, just that it does, you can also discover apps and toolboxes.

After youve successfully installed MATLAB on whatever computer platform youre using, you start with the basics and work your way up. By the time you finish working through the examples in this book, youll be able to perform a range of simple tasks in MATLAB that includes writing scripts, writing functions, creating plots, and performing advanced equation solving. No, you wont be an expert, but you will be able to use MATLAB to meet specific needs in the job environment.

To make absorbing the concepts even easier, this book uses the following conventions:

• Text that youre meant to type just as it appears in the book is bold. The exception is when youre working through a step list: Because each step is bold, the text to type is not bold.