Basics

To start the program type matlab at the Unix prompt, as follows:

	% matlab

The system should respond (eventually) with:

        Commands to get started: intro, demo, help help
        Commands for more information: help, whatsnew, info, subscribe
        >>

Our first command will make a record of the session, in a file named "session". [The ">>" is Matlab's prompt, you don't need to type it]. Enter:

	>> diary session

Arithmetic uses some fairly standard notation. More than one command may be entered on a single line, if they are seperated by commas.

	>> 2+3
	>> 3*4, 4^2

Powers are performed before division and multiplication, which are done before subtraction and addition.

	>> 2+3*4^2

The arrow keys allow "command-line editing," which cuts down on the amount of typing required, and allows easy error correction. Press the "up" arrow, and add "/2." What will this produce?

	>> 2+3*4^2/2

Parentheses may be used to group terms, or to make them more readable.

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

The equality sign is used to assign values to variables.

	>> x = 3
	>> y = x^2
	>> y/x

If no other name is given, an answer is saved in a variable named "ans."

	>> z=2*ans, ans

Here z was defined in terms of ans. The result was called z, so ans was unchanged.

To get a list of your variables, use one of

	>> who, whos

In Matlab, like C or Fortran, variables must have a value [which might be numerical, or a string of characters, for example]. All arithmetic is done to double precision [about 16 decimal digits], even though results are normally displayed in a shorter form.

	>> a=sqrt(2)
	>> format long, b=sqrt(2)
	>> a-b
        >> format short

To save the value of the variable "x" to a plain text file named "x.value" use

	>> save x.value x -ascii

To save all variables in a file named mysession.mat, in reloadable format, use

	>> save mysession

To restore the session, use

	>> load mysession

To find out about this kind of thing, consult the help system. There's even an HTML version!

	>> help
	>> help general
	>> doc

Finally, to stop Matlab and return to the operating system, use

	>> quit

Then, to see the saved files from your session, type

	% more foo
	% more x.value