*Matlab Short Courses are free for current UT-Austin faculty, staff & students
*Seating for each class is limited to 24 students. Registration is taken on a first-come first-serve basis. (Students on the wait list will be informed of seats as they become available).

Course Descriptions

Matlab I: Getting Started

This course introduces the Matlab package developed by Mathworks, Inc., and installed on ITS time sharing mainframe systems. In addition to the main Matlab kernel, this package contains several auxiliary applications that use the matlab kernel, including Simulink for modeling and simulation of dynamical systems, and various Toolboxes for more specialized applications. Those licensed for use on ITS mainframes are the Control Toolbox, the Optimization Toolbox, the System Identification Toolbox, the Signal Processing Toolbox, and the Image Processing Toolbox.
The intent of this introductory course is to familiarize new users with the scope of applications and with the desktop interface from which they can be launched. Basic input/output and programming skills needed to perform elementary data manipulation and analytical tasks in Matlab also are included using simple examples.

After completing this course, a new user should be able to:

• Launch the Matlab application to get a command line prompt
• Import/export data from/to external text files
• Create and manipulate new variables from the command line
• Prepare simple macros in the form of M-files
• Use a function or procedure from a toolbox
• Use the built-in help documentation

Prerequisites: None, but instructional lab desktops run on a Windows XP platform so a basic familiarity with Windows is assumed. Familiarity with matrices and elementary linear algebra will be helpful, but not necessary.

Length: Three hours.

Class Powerpoint: MatlabI.ppt

Matlab II: Computing & Programming

This is an intermediate level course in using the Matlab package developed by Mathworks, Inc., which is installed on ITS time sharing mainframe systems. A very brief review of the essentials concerning the desktop GUI and specific notation and syntax from the beginning level course will be given. Computing methods such as forming compound expressions, vectorized calculations, recursion, convolution, and numerical techniques of elementary calculus will be covered using simple examples. Programming topics will include the use of Matlab's built-in Editor to create script and function M-file macros, the construction of programs with interactive user input from the keyboard, and the implementation of some basic methods and tools for debugging code.

The intent of this intermediate level course is to help users become adept at using Matlab as a computational tool both at the keyboard and from self written code. It is also intended to prepare a student for future advanced level Matlab short courses in data analysis and graphics, and in modeling and simulation.

After completing this course the student should be able to:

• Use built-in constants and functions for creating compound expressions
• Do simple linear algebra with matrices
• Work with and construct logic and complex number variables
• Perform several common mathematical tasks
• Create scripts and functions in the form of M-files.
• Construct code accommodating interactive keyboard input
• Apply starting level code debugging techniques

Prerequisites: MATLAB I: Getting Started, or equivalent basic knowledge of Matlab's desktop layout, navigational toolbars, and notational conventions Familiarity with elementary linear algebra and previous experience with any high level programming language such as Fortran or C will be helpful, but is not essential.

Length: Three hours.

Class Powerpoint: MatlabII.ppt

Matlab III: Graphics & Data Analysis

• Make a variety of plotting displays and surface renderings in 2-D and 3-D
• Create animations of time line trajectories and movies as a sequence of frames
• Customize data visualization displays interactively from Graphics Property Editors
• Manipulate graphics from the command line or from scripts using Handle Graphics
• Obtain values for statistical variables from data vectors and matrices
• Create a power spectrum from time series data using FFT
• Work with files containing image data and color maps

Prerequisites: MATLAB I: Getting Started and MATLAB II: Computing and Programming or equivalent basic knowledge of Matlab's desktop layout, navigational toolbars, notational conventions, matrix commands, and structure of m-file scripts and functions. Familiarity with RGB color representation schemes, commonly used statistical variables, time series data, and numerical representation of image data will be helpful, but is not essential.

Length: Three hours.

Class Powerpoint: MatlabIII.ppt

Matlab IV: Modeling & Simulation

This is an advanced level course in using the Matlab package developed by Mathworks, Inc., which is installed on the ITS time sharing mainframe systems. The focus for this course will be on working with systems in which multiple variables or equations are interactively evolving in time or in which optimized parameters or conditions, possibly subject to constraints, are desired. It will primarily be a basic survey of features and use of the System Identification Toolbox (selecting a model from known input/output data, the Control System Toolbox (state space, time delay, responses); the Optimization Toolbox (minimization or maximization), and the Simulink auxiliary (building dynamic systems models from library building blocks).

Prerequisites: MATLAB I: Getting Started and MATLAB II: Computing and Programming, or equivalent basic knowledge of Matlab's desktop layout, navigational toolbars, notational conventions, matrix commands, and structure of m-file scripts and functions.

Length: Three hours.

Class Powerpoint: MatlabIV.ppt