MATLAB is exceptionally strong in linear algebra, numerical methods, and graphical interpretation of data. It is easily programmed and relatively easy to learn to use. Hence, it has proven invaluable to engineers and scientists who rely on the scientific techniques and methods at which MATLAB excels. Very often the individuals and groups that employ MATLAB are primarily interested in the numbers and graphs that emerge from MATLAB commands, processes, and programs. Therefore, it is enough for them to work in a MATLAB Command Window, from which they can easily print or export their desired output.

However, other practitioners of mathematical software find themselves with two additional requirements. First, they need a mathematical software package embedded in an interactive environment, in which it is easy to make changes and regenerate results. Second, they need a higher-level presentation mode, which integrates computation and graphics with text, uses different formats for input and output, and communicates effortlessly with other software applications. These additional requirements can be accomplished either by editing and publishing an M-file, or else using the M-book interface, both of which were briefly described in Chapter 3. The present chapter goes into more detail and discusses some of the fine points of these methods.

That statement encapsulates the view of The MathWorks, Inc., the developer of MATLAB®. MATLAB 8 is an ambitious program. It contains hundreds of commands to do mathematics. You can use it to graph functions, solve equations, perform statistical tests, and much more. It is a high-level programming language that can communicate with its cousins, e.g., Fortran and C. You can produce sound and animate graphics. You can do simulations and modeling (especially if you have access not just to basic MATLAB but also to its accessory Simulink®). You can do symbolic computations (if you have the Symbolic Math Toolbox and its included package, MuPAD®). You can prepare materials for export to the internet. In addition, you can use MATLAB to combine mathematical computations with text and graphics in order to produce a polished, integrated, interactive document.

A program this sophisticated contains many features and options. There are literally hundreds of useful commands at your disposal.

In this chapter, we will introduce you to the tools you need in order to begin using MATLAB effectively. These include the following: some relevant information on computer platforms and software; installation protocols; how to launch MATLAB, enter commands and use online help; a roster of MATLAB's various windows; and, finally, how to exit the program. We know that you are anxious to get started using MATLAB, so we will keep this chapter brief. After you complete it, you can go immediately to Chapter 2 to find concrete and simple instructions for using MATLAB to do mathematics. We describe the MATLAB interface more elaborately in Chapter 3.

Platforms and Versions

The latest version of MATLAB, MATLAB 8 (Release 2012b or later) runs on three operating systems: various versions of Microsoft Windows (both 32-Bit and 64-Bit), Mac OS X, and many distributions of Linux (including Ubuntu, Debian, SUSE, and Red Hat Enterprise). For exact system requirements, you can consult:

http://www.mathworks.com/support/sysreq/current_release/

For definitiveness, we shall assume that the reader is using a Windows computer. In those very few instances where our instructions must be tailored differently for Linux or Mac users, we shall point it out clearly.

In this chapter, we discuss the MuPAD language, which underlies MATLAB's Symbolic Math Toolbox. We believe that the most practical uses of MuPAD are to be found in calculus, linear algebra, number theory, combinatorics, and differential equations. We shall show how to use MuPAD directly to deal with issues from some of those topics. We shall comment more fully below on why you might want to do so. For additional basic information on MuPAD (beyond what you will find in this book), we recommend the MuPAD Tutorial, which you can find at the mathworks.com web site. (MathWorks is the software company that produces MATLAB and MuPAD.)

As we mentioned at the end of Chapter 4, all of the commands in the Symbolic Math Toolbox rely on a software package called MuPAD. Most of the time you may not need to know this, but for sophisticated symbolic calculations it helps to work directly in MuPAD, without going through MATLAB as an intermediary. A rather dramatic example of this is described in the authors' book Differential Equations with MATLAB, 3rd ed., Wiley, New York, 2012, where in the topic of series solutions of ordinary differential equations, it is far clumsier to work through MATLAB than it is to invoke MuPAD symbolic commands directly.