A Guide to MATLAB
This book is a short, focused introduction to MATLAB, a comprehen-
sive software system for mathematics and technical computing. It will
be useful to both beginning and experienced users. It contains concise
explanations of essential MATLAB commands, as well as easily under-
stood instructions for using MATLAB’s programming features, graphi-
cal capabilities, and desktop interface. It also includes an introduction
to SIMULINK, a companion to MATLAB for system simulation.
Written for MATLAB 6, this book can also be used with earlier (and
later) versions of MATLAB. This book contains worked-out examples
of applications of MATLAB to interesting problems in mathematics,
engineering, economics, and physics. In addition, it contains explicit
instructions for using MATLAB’s Microsoft Word interface to produce
polished, integrated, interactive documents for reports, presentations,
or online publishing.
This book explains everything you need to know to begin using
MATLAB to do all these things and more. Intermediate and advanced
users will find useful information here, especially if they are making
the switch to MATLAB 6 from an earlier version.
Brian R. Hunt is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at the Univer-
sity of Maryland. Professor Hunt has coauthored four books on math-
ematical software and more than 30 journal articles. He is currently
involved in research on dynamical systems and fractal geometry.
Ronald L. Lipsman is a Professor of Mathematics and Associate Dean
of the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences at the
University of Maryland. Professor Lipsman has coauthored five books
on mathematical software and more than 70 research articles. Professor
Lipsman was the recipient of both the NATO and Fulbright Fellowships.
Jonathan M. Rosenberg is a Professor of Mathematics at the Univer-
sity of Maryland. Professor Rosenberg is the author of two books on
mathematics (one of them coauthored by R. Lipsman and K. Coombes)
and the coeditor of Novikov Conjectures, Index Theorems, and Rigidity,
a two-volume set from the London Mathematical Society Lecture Note
Series (Cambridge University Press, 1995).
