MATLAB: Expert Guides and Resources

MATLAB is an incredibly flexible environment that you can use to perform all sorts of math tasks. A large array of engineering and science disciplines can use MATLAB to meet specific needs in their environment. Using such a complex environment can prove daunting at first, but this Cheat Sheet can help: Get to know common MATLAB commands; become familiar with common operators and precedence; and learn to recognize line plot styles.

You would have a tough time presenting formulas to others without being able to use math symbols. MATLAB provides you with a wealth of symbols that you can use for output purposes. Here are the most commonly used symbols and how you access them.FractionDisplaying a fraction onscreen doesn’t always include a numeric fraction; it could be a formula that requires that sort of presentation.

How the 3D effect appears onscreen depends on the data aspect ratio you set in MATLAB. The daspect() function lets you obtain the current aspect ratio and set a new one. The aspect ratio is a measure of how the x-, y-, and z-axis interact. For example, an aspect ratio of [1, 2, 3] would mean that for every 1 unit of the x-axis, there are two units of the y-axis and three units of the z-axis.

Using a color bar with your MATLAB plot can help people see data values based on color rather than pure numeric value. The color bar itself can assign human-understandable values to the numeric data so that the data means something to those viewing it. The best way to work with color bars is to see them in action.

MATLAB allows you to modify the plot box aspect ratio. Instead of modifying the data, the plot box aspect ratio modifies the plot box — the element that holds the plot in its entirety — as a whole. The appearance of the data still changes, but in a different way than before. The following steps get you started with this example:Type YSource = [1, 3, 5; 3, 7, 9; 5, 7, 11]; and press Enter.

You need to obtain either a trial version or a purchased version of the Symbolic Math Toolbox before you can do anything else with it in MATLAB. (When getting a trial version, you must discuss the download with someone from MATLAB before you can actually download the product.) Check out the product information and click one of the links in the Try or Buy section of the page.

Once you have obtained a copy of the Symbolic Math Toolbox to use with MATLAB, you should have a number of files on your hard drive. These files provide everything needed to install the Symbolic Math Toolbox. You have two ways by which you can interact with the files: If you were able to use the download agent, you see a dialog box telling you that the download is complete.

You can create a 3D bar chart in MATLAB. The bar chart is a standard form of presentation that is mostly used in a business environment. You can use a bar chart to display either 2D or 3D data. When you feed a bar chart a vector, it produces a 2D bar chart. Providing a bar chart with a matrix produces a 3D chart.