Chapter 1

Short introduction to MATLAB

1.1 Introduction

MATLAB is a commercial software and a trademark of The MathWorks, Inc.,

USA. It is an integrated programming system, including graphical interfaces and
a large number of specialized toolboxes. MATLAB is getting increasingly popular
in all fields of science and engineering.
This chapter will provide some basic notions needed for the understanding of
the remainder of the book. A deeper study of MATLAB can be obtained from
many MATLAB books and the very useful help of MATLAB.

1.2 Matrices

Matrices are the fundamental object of MATLAB and are particularly important
in this book. Matrices can be created in MATLAB in many ways, the simplest one
obtained by the commands
>> A=[1 2 3;4 5 6;7 8 9]
A =
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
Note the semi-colon at the end of each matrix line. We can also generate matrices
by pre-defined functions, such as random matrices

>> rand(3)
ans =
0.8147 0.9134 0.2785
0.9058 0.6324 0.5469
0.1270 0.0975 0.9575
A.J.M. Ferreira, MATLAB Codes for Finite Element Analysis: 1
Solids and Structures, Solid Mechanics and Its Applications 157,


c Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009
2 1 Short introduction to MATLAB

Rectangular matrices can be obtained by specification of the number of rows and

columns, as in
>> rand(2,3)
ans =
0.9649 0.9706 0.4854
0.1576 0.9572 0.8003

1.3 Operating with matrices

We can add, subtract, multiply, and transpose matrices. For example, we can
obtain a matrix C = A + B, by the following commands
>> a=rand(4)
a =
0.2769 0.6948 0.4387 0.1869
0.0462 0.3171 0.3816 0.4898
0.0971 0.9502 0.7655 0.4456
0.8235 0.0344 0.7952 0.6463
>> b=rand(4)
b =
0.7094 0.6551 0.9597 0.7513
0.7547 0.1626 0.3404 0.2551
0.2760 0.1190 0.5853 0.5060
0.6797 0.4984 0.2238 0.6991
>> c=a+b
c =
0.9863 1.3499 1.3985 0.9381
0.8009 0.4797 0.7219 0.7449
0.3732 1.0692 1.3508 0.9515
1.5032 0.5328 1.0190 1.3454
The matrices can be multiplied, for example E = A ∗ D, as shown in the following
example
>> d=rand(4,1)
d =
0.8909
0.9593
0.5472
0.1386
>> e=a*d
e =
1.1792
0.6220
1.5 Matrix functions 3

1.4787
1.2914
The transpose of a matrix is given by the apostrophe, as
>> a=rand(3,2)
a =
0.1493 0.2543
0.2575 0.8143
0.8407 0.2435
>> a’
ans =
0.1493 0.2575 0.8407
0.2543 0.8143 0.2435

1.4 Statements

Statements are operators, functions and variables, always producing a matrix

which can be used later. Some examples of statements:
>> a=3
a =
3
>> b=a*3
b =
9
>> eye(3)
ans =
1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 1
If one wants to cancel the echo of the input, a semi-colon at the end of the statement
suffices.
Important to mention that MATLAB is case-sensitive, variables a and A being
different objects.
We can erase variables from the workspace by using clear, or clear all. A given
object can be erased, such as clear A.

1.5 Matrix functions

Some useful matrix functions are given in table 1.1

4 1 Short introduction to MATLAB

Table 1.1 Some useful functions for matrices

eye Identity matrix
zeros A matrix of zeros
ones A matrix of ones
diag Creates or extract diagonals
rand Random matrix

Some examples of such functions are given in the following commands (here we
build matrices by blocks)
>> [eye(3),diag(eye(3)),rand(3)]
ans =
1.0000 0 0 1.0000 0.9293 0.2511 0.3517
0 1.0000 0 1.0000 0.3500 0.6160 0.8308
0 0 1.0000 1.0000 0.1966 0.4733 0.5853

Another example of matrices built from blocks:

>> A=rand(3)
A =
0.5497 0.7572 0.5678
0.9172 0.7537 0.0759
0.2858 0.3804 0.0540
>> B = [A, zeros(3,2); zeros(2,3), ones(2)]
B =
0.5497 0.7572 0.5678 0 0
0.9172 0.7537 0.0759 0 0
0.2858 0.3804 0.0540 0 0
0 0 0 1.0000 1.0000
0 0 0 1.0000 1.0000

1.6 Conditionals, if and switch

Often a function needs to branch based on runtime conditions. MATLAB offers

structures for this similar to those in most languages. Here is an example illustrat-
ing most of the features of if.
x=-1
if x==0
disp(’Bad input!’)
elseif max(x) > 0
y = x+1;
else
y = x^2;
end
1.7 Loops: for and while 5

If there are many options, it may better to use switch instead. For instance:
switch units
case ’length’
disp(’meters’)
case ’volume’
disp(’cubic meters’)
case ’time’
disp(’hours’)
otherwise
disp(’not interested’)
end

1.7 Loops: for and while

Many programs require iteration, or repetitive execution of a block of statements.

Again, MATLAB is similar to other languages here. This code for calculating the
first 10 Fibonacci numbers illustrates the most common type of for/end loop:

>> f=[1 2]
f =
1 2
>> for i=3:10;f(i)=f(i-1)+f(i-2);end;
>> f
f =
1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89

It is sometimes necessary to repeat statements based on a condition rather than

a fixed number of times. This is done with while.

>> x=10;while x > 1; x = x/2,end

x =
5
x =
2.5000
x =
1.2500
x =
0.6250

Other examples of for/end loops:

>> x = []; for i = 1:4, x=[x,i^2], end

6 1 Short introduction to MATLAB

x =
1
x =
1 4
x =
1 4 9
x =
1 4 9 16
and in inverse form
>> x = []; for i = 4:-1:1, x=[x,i^2], end
x =
16
x =
16 9
x =
16 9 4
x =
16 9 4 1
Note the initial values of x = [] and the possibility of decreasing cycles.

1.8 Relations

Relations in MATLAB are shown in table 1.2.

Note the difference between ‘=’ and logical equal ‘==’. The logical operators
are given in table 1.3. The result if either 0 or 1, as in
>> 3<5,3>5,3==5

Table 1.2 Some relation operators

< Less than
> Greater than
<= Less or equal than
>= Greater or equal than
== Equal to
∼= Not equal

Table 1.3 Logical operators

& and
| or
∼ not
1.9 Scalar functions 7

ans =
1
ans =
0
ans =
0
The same is obtained for matrices, as in
>> a = rand(5), b = triu(a), a == b
a =
0.1419 0.6557 0.7577 0.7060 0.8235
0.4218 0.0357 0.7431 0.0318 0.6948
0.9157 0.8491 0.3922 0.2769 0.3171
0.7922 0.9340 0.6555 0.0462 0.9502
0.9595 0.6787 0.1712 0.0971 0.0344
b =
0.1419 0.6557 0.7577 0.7060 0.8235
0 0.0357 0.7431 0.0318 0.6948
0 0 0.3922 0.2769 0.3171
0 0 0 0.0462 0.9502
0 0 0 0 0.0344
ans =
1 1 1 1 1
0 1 1 1 1
0 0 1 1 1
0 0 0 1 1
0 0 0 0 1

1.9 Scalar functions

Some MATLAB functions are applied to scalars only. Some of those functions are
listed in table 1.4. Note that such functions can be applied to all elements of a
vector or matrix, as in
>> a=rand(3,4)
a =
0.4387 0.7952 0.4456 0.7547

Table 1.4 Scalar functions

sin asin exp abs round
cos acos log sqrt floor
tan atan rem sign ceil
8 1 Short introduction to MATLAB

0.3816 0.1869 0.6463 0.2760

0.7655 0.4898 0.7094 0.6797
>> b=sin(a)
b =
0.4248 0.7140 0.4310 0.6851
0.3724 0.1858 0.6022 0.2725
0.6929 0.4704 0.6514 0.6286
>> c=sqrt(b)
c =
0.6518 0.8450 0.6565 0.8277
0.6102 0.4310 0.7760 0.5220
0.8324 0.6859 0.8071 0.7928

1.10 Vector functions

Some MATLAB functions operate on vectors only, such as those illustrated in

table 1.5.
Consider for example vector X=1:10. The sum, mean and maximum values are
evaluated as

>> x=1:10
x =
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
>> sum(x)
ans =
55
>> mean(x)
ans =
5.5000
>> max(x)
ans =
10

Table 1.5 Vector functions

max sum median any
min prod mean all
1.11 Matrix functions 9

1.11 Matrix functions

Some important matrix functions are listed in table 1.6.

In some cases such functions may use more than one output argument, as in

>> A=rand(3)
A =
0.8147 0.9134 0.2785
0.9058 0.6324 0.5469
0.1270 0.0975 0.9575
>> y=eig(A)
y =
-0.1879
1.7527
0.8399

where we wish to obtain the eigenvalues only, or in

>> [V,D]=eig(A)
V =
0.6752 -0.7134 -0.5420
-0.7375 -0.6727 -0.2587
-0.0120 -0.1964 0.7996
D =
-0.1879 0 0
0 1.7527 0
0 0 0.8399

where we obtain the eigenvectors and the eigenvalues of matrix A.

Table 1.6 Matrix functions

eig Eigenvalues and eigenvectors
chol Choleski factorization
inv Inverse
lu LU decomposition
qr QR factorization
schur Schur decomposition
poly Characteristic polynomial
det Determinant
size Size of a matrix
norm 1-norm, 2-norm, F-norm, ∞-norm
cond Conditioning number of 2-norm
rank Rank of a matrix
10 1 Short introduction to MATLAB

1.12 Submatrix

In MATLAB it is possible to manipulate matrices in order to make code more

compact or more efficient. For example, using the colon we can generate vectors,
as in

>> x=1:8
x =
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

or using increments

>> x=1.2:0.5:3.7
x =
1.2000 1.7000 2.2000 2.7000 3.2000 3.7000

This sort of vectorization programming is quite efficient, no for/end cycles are used.
This efficiency can be seen in the generation of a table of sines,

>> x=0:pi/2:2*pi
x =
0 1.5708 3.1416 4.7124 6.2832
>> b=sin(x)
b =
0 1.0000 0.0000 -1.0000 -0.0000
>> [x’ b’]
ans =
0 0
1.5708 1.0000
3.1416 0.0000
4.7124 -1.0000
6.2832 -0.0000

The colon can also be used to access one or more elements from a matrix, where
each dimension is given a single index or vector of indices. A block is then extracted
from the matrix, as illustrated next.

>> a=rand(3,4)
a =
0.6551 0.4984 0.5853 0.2551
0.1626 0.9597 0.2238 0.5060
0.1190 0.3404 0.7513 0.6991
>> a(2,3)
ans =
0.2238
1.12 Submatrix 11

>> a(1:2,2:3)
ans =
0.4984 0.5853
0.9597 0.2238
>> a(1,end)
ans =
0.2551
>> a(1,:)
ans =
0.6551 0.4984 0.5853 0.2551
>> a(:,3)
ans =
0.5853
0.2238
0.7513
It is interesting to note that arrays are stored linearly in memory, from the first
dimension, second, and so on. So we can in fact access vectors by a single index,
as show below.

>> a=[1 2 3;4 5 6; 9 8 7]

a =
1 2 3
4 5 6
9 8 7
>> a(3)
ans =
9
>> a(7)
ans =
3
>> a([1 2 3 4])
ans =
1 4 9 2
>> a(:)
ans =
1
4
9
2
5
8
3
6
7
Subscript referencing can also be used in both sides.
12 1 Short introduction to MATLAB

>> a
a =
1 2 3
4 5 6
9 8 7
>> b
b =
1 2 3
4 5 6
>> b(1,:)=a(1,:)
b =
1 2 3
4 5 6
>> b(1,:)=a(2,:)
b =
4 5 6
4 5 6
>> b(:,2)=[]
b =
4 6
4 6
>> a(3,:)=0
a =
1 2 3
4 5 6
0 0 0
>> b(3,1)=20
b =
4 6
4 6
20 0

As you noted in the last example, we can insert one element in matrix B, and
MATLAB automatically resizes the matrix.

1.13 Logical indexing

Logical indexing arise from logical relations, resulting in a logical array, with ele-
ments 0 or 1.

>> a
a =
1 2 3
4 5 6
0 0 0
1.14 M-files, scripts and functions 13

>> a>2
ans =
0 0 1
1 1 1
0 0 0
Then we can use such array as a mask to modify the original matrix, as shown
next.
>> a(ans)=20
a =
1 2 20
20 20 20
0 0 0
This will be very useful in finite element calculations, particularly when imposing
boundary conditions.

1.14 M-files, scripts and functions

A M-file is a plain text file with MATLAB commands, saved with extension .m.
The M-files can be scripts of functions. By using the editor of MATLAB we can
insert comments or statements and then save or compile the m-file. Note that
the percent sign % represents a comment. No statement after this sign will be
executed. Comments are quite useful for documenting the file.
M-files are useful when the number of statements is large, or when you want to
execute it at a later stage, or frequently, or even to run it in background.
A simple example of a script is given below.
% program 1
% programmer: Antonio ferreira
% date: 2008.05.30
% purpose : show how M-files are built

% data: a - matrix of numbers; b: matrix with sines of a

a=rand(3,4);
b=sin(a);
Functions act like subroutines in fortran where a particular set of tasks is
performed. A typical function is given below, where in the first line we should
name the function and give the input parameters (m,n,p) in parenthesis and the
output parameters (a,b,c) in square parenthesis.
function [a,b,c] = antonio(m,n,p)
14 1 Short introduction to MATLAB

a = hilb(m);
b= magic(n);
c= eye(m,p);
We then call this function as
>> [a,b,c]=antonio(2,3,4)
producing
>> [a,b,c]=antonio(2,3,4)
a =
1.0000 0.5000
0.5000 0.3333
b =
8 1 6
3 5 7
4 9 2
c =
1 0 0 0
0 1 0 0
It is possible to use only some output parameters.
>> [a,b]=antonio(2,3,4)
a =
1.0000 0.5000
0.5000 0.3333
b =
8 1 6
3 5 7
4 9 2

1.15 Graphics

MATLAB allows you to produce graphics in a simple way, either 2D or 3D plots.

1.15.1 2D plots

Using the command plot we can produce simple 2D plots in a figure, using two
vectors with x and y coordinates. A simple example
x = -4:.01:4; y = sin(x); plot(x,y)
producing the plot of figure 1.1.
1.15 Graphics 15

Fig. 1.1 2D plot of a 1

sinus
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
−0.2
−0.4
−0.6
−0.8

−1
−4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4

Table 1.7 Some graphics commands

Title Title
xlabel x-axis legend
ylabel y-axis legend
Axis([xmin ,xmax ,ymin ,ymax ]) Sets limits to axis
Axis auto Automatic limits
Axis square Same scale for both axis
Axis equal Same scale for both axis
Axis off Removes scale
Axis on Scales again

We can insert a title, legends, modify axes etc., as shown in table 1.7.
By using hold on we can produce several plots in the same figure. We can also
modify colors of curves or points, as in
>> x=0:.01:2*pi; y1=sin(x); y2=sin(2*x); y3=sin(4*x);
>> plot(x,y1,’--’,x,y2,’:’,x,y3,’+’)
producing the plot of figure 1.2.

1.15.2 3D plots

As for 2D plots, we can produce 3D plots with plot3 using x, y, and z vectors.
For example
t=.01:.01:20*pi; x=cos(t); y=sin(t); z=t.^3; plot3(x,y,z)
produces the plot illustrated in figure 1.3.
The next statements produce the graphic illustrated in figure 1.4.
16 1 Short introduction to MATLAB

Fig. 1.2 Colors and 1

markers
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
−0.2
−0.4
−0.6
−0.8
−1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Fig. 1.3 3D plot

x 105
2.5

1.5

0.5

0
1
0.5 1
0 0.5
0
−0.5 −0.5
−1 −1

>> [xx,yy]=meshgrid(x,x);
>> z=exp(-xx.^2-yy.^2);
>> surf(xx,yy,z,gradient(z))

1.16 Linear algebra

In our finite element calculations we typically need to solve systems of equations,

or obtain the eigenvalues of a matrix. MATLAB has a large number of functions for
linear algebra. Only the most relevant for finite element analysis are here presented.
1.16 Linear algebra 17

Fig. 1.4 Another 3D plot

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
2
1 2
1
0
0
−1 −1
−2 −2

Consider a linear system AX = B, where

>> a=rand(3)
a =
0.8909 0.1386 0.8407
0.9593 0.1493 0.2543
0.5472 0.2575 0.8143
>> b=rand(3,1)
b =
0.2435
0.9293
0.3500

The solution vector X can be easily evaluated by using the backslash command,

>> x=a\b
x =
0.7837
2.9335
-1.0246

Consider two matrices (for example a stiffness matrix and a mass matrix), for
which we wish to calculate the generalized eigenproblem.

>> a=rand(4)
a =
0.1966 0.3517 0.9172 0.3804
0.2511 0.8308 0.2858 0.5678
0.6160 0.5853 0.7572 0.0759
0.4733 0.5497 0.7537 0.0540
>> b=rand(4)
18 1 Short introduction to MATLAB

b =
0.5308 0.5688 0.1622 0.1656
0.7792 0.4694 0.7943 0.6020
0.9340 0.0119 0.3112 0.2630
0.1299 0.3371 0.5285 0.6541
>> [v,d]=eig(a,b)
v =
0.1886 -0.0955 1.0000 -0.9100
0.0180 1.0000 -0.5159 -0.4044
-1.0000 -0.2492 -0.2340 0.0394
0.9522 -0.8833 0.6731 -1.0000
d =
-4.8305 0 0 0
0 -0.6993 0 0
0 0 0.1822 0
0 0 0 0.7628

The MATLAB function eig can be applied to the generalized eigenproblem, pro-
ducing matrix V, each column containing an eigenvector, and matrix D, containing
the eigenvalues at its diagonal. If the matrices are the stiffness and the mass ma-
trices then the eigenvectors will be the modes of vibration and the eigenvalues will
be the square roots of the natural frequencies of the system.