MATLAB Fundamentals Training Course

Part 1

An Overview of MATLAB

Objectives: Provide an overview of MATLAB's purpose, composition, and potential applications.

• Comparison Example: C vs. MATLAB
• MATLAB Product Suite Overview
• Application Domains for MATLAB
• How MATLAB Can Assist You
• Course Structure

Navigating the MATLAB User Interface

Objective: Introduce the primary features of the MATLAB integrated development environment and its user interfaces, alongside an overview of course themes.

• The MATLAB Interface
• Reading data from files
• Saving and loading variables
• Plotting data
• Customizing plots
• Calculating statistics and fitting lines
• Exporting graphics for use in external applications

Variables and Expressions

Objective: Learn to enter MATLAB commands, focusing on creating and accessing data within variables.

• Entering commands
• Creating variables
• Accessing help resources
• Retrieving and modifying variable values
• Creating character variables

Analyzing and Visualizing with Vectors

Objective: Perform mathematical and statistical calculations on vectors and create basic visualizations. Observe how MATLAB syntax allows for calculations across entire datasets using a single command.

• Calculations involving vectors
• Plotting vectors
• Basic plot options
• Annotating plots

Analyzing and Visualizing with Matrices

Objective: Utilize matrices as mathematical objects or collections of (vector) data. Understand how to use MATLAB syntax appropriately to distinguish between these uses.

• Size and dimensionality
• Calculations with matrices
• Statistics applied to matrix data
• Plotting multiple columns
• Reshaping and linear indexing
• Multidimensional arrays

Part 2

Automating Commands with Scripts

Objective: Group MATLAB commands into scripts to facilitate reproduction and experimentation. As task complexity grows, entering long command sequences in the Command Window becomes inefficient.

• A Modeling Example
• The Command History window
• Creating script files
• Running scripts
• Comments and Code Cells
• Publishing scripts

Working with Data Files

Objective: Import data from formatted files into MATLAB. Since imported data can vary widely in type and format, emphasis is placed on working with cell arrays and date formats.

• Importing data
• Handling mixed data types
• Working with cell arrays
• Conversions between numbers, strings, and cells
• Exporting data

Multiple Vector Plots

Objective: Create more complex vector plots, such as multiple simultaneous plots, utilizing color and string manipulation techniques to produce visually appealing data representations.

• Graphics structure
• Multiple figures, axes, and plots
• Plotting equations
• Using color
• Customizing plots

Logic and Flow Control

Objective: Use logical operations, variables, and indexing techniques to develop flexible code capable of making decisions and adapting to different scenarios. Explore programming constructs for repeating code sections and those facilitating user interaction.

• Logical operations and variables
• Logical indexing
• Programming constructs
• Flow control structures
• Loops

Matrix and Image Visualization

Objective: Visualize images and matrix data in two or three dimensions. Explore the distinctions between displaying images and visualizing matrix data via image techniques.

• Scattered interpolation using vector and matrix data
• 3-D matrix visualization
• 2-D matrix visualization
• Indexed images and colormaps
• True color images

Part 3

Data Analysis

Objective: Perform common data analysis tasks in MATLAB, including developing and fitting theoretical models to real-world data. This naturally leads to one of MATLAB's most powerful features: solving linear systems of equations with a single command.

• Handling missing data
• Correlation
• Smoothing techniques
• Spectral analysis and FFTs
• Solving linear systems of equations

Writing Functions

Objective: Increase automation by encapsulating modular tasks as user-defined functions. Understand how MATLAB resolves references to files and variables.

• The purpose of functions
• Creating functions
• Adding comments
• Calling subfunctions
• Workspaces
• Subfunctions
• Path and precedence rules

Data Types

Objective: Explore data types, focusing on the syntax for creating variables and accessing array elements, while discussing methods for converting between data types. Data types vary based on the kind of data they contain and how that data is organized.

• MATLAB data types
• Integers
• Structures
• Converting types

File I/O

Objective: Explore low-level data import and export functions in MATLAB that allow precise control over text and binary file input/output. These include textscan, which provides detailed control when reading text files.

• Opening and closing files
• Reading and writing text files
• Reading and writing binary files

Please note that the actual course delivery may be subject to minor discrepancies from the outline above without prior notification.

Conclusion

Please note that the actual course delivery may be subject to minor discrepancies from the outline above without prior notification.

Objectives: Summarize what we have learned

• A summary of the course
• Other upcoming courses on MATLAB

Please note that the course might be subject to a few minor discrepancies when being delivered without prior notifications.