Penn Pre-freshman Program: Introduction to MATLAB

Matt Brendzel
brendzel@gmail.com (use header “PFP MATLAB - ” in all messages)
Lecture Hours: T&R, 10-12 PM
Lab Hours: M-F, 1-2 PM

Lecture 1 – 2009/08/04
Relevant Reading: p. 4-32, 127-137
Key Topics: variables, arrays and matrices, mathematical operators
• Introduction (names, logistics)
• What is programming?
• MATLAB fundamentals
◦ The main windows
◦ Basic commands
◦ Toolboxes
• Variables
◦ variable name rules
◦ creating, initializing and evaluating
• Mathematical operators
• Basic functions (+,-,*,/)
• Arrays
• Matrices
• HW 1 is assigned, due 2009/08/11.

Lecture 2 - 2009/08/06
Relevant Reading: p. 60 – 77, 160-167, 233-247
Key Topics:
• Functions and Scripts
• Flow Control
• 'if' statements
• switches
• Strings
◦ strings as arrays of characters
◦ string manipulation using array operations

Lecture 3 – 2009/08/11 HW 1 collected

Relevant Reading: p. 50-60, 204-214
Key Topics:
• Images as Matrices
 • RGB
• Matrix operations with images
• More Flow Control
◦ 'while' loops
◦ 'for' loops
• HW 2 is assigned, due 2009/08/18.

Lecture 4 – 2009/08/13
Relevant Reading: p. 141-160
Key Topics:
• Advanced loop use
◦ Nested loops
◦ Loop-switch combinations
◦ Index-dependent functions
• Image processing – practical applications
• GUEST SPEAKER: Prof. C. J. Taylor, from Penn's GRASP Lab, comes in to discuss the use
of MATLAB in robotics and computer vision.

Lecture 5 – 2009/08/18 HW 2 collected

Relevant Reading: p. 171-191
Key Topics:
• Plotting
◦ Making plots in two and three dimensions
◦ Making animations using 'getframe'
• Basic simulation using MATLAB
• HW 3 is assigned, due 2009/08/25.

Lecture 6 – 2009/08/20
Relevant Reading: p. 212-215
Key Topics:
• Building a simulation, from start to finish

Lecture 7 – 2009/08/25 HW 3 collected

Relevant Reading: p. 292-303
Key Topics:
• Applications for MATLAB.
◦ Running simulations.
◦ Interfacing with devices.
◦ Computer vision and image processing.
◦ Matrix calculation and linear system solutions.
• GUIs
◦ Advantages to a GUI
◦ How to make a simple GUI in MATLAB
• HW 4 is assigned, due 2009/09/01.
Lecture 7 – 2009/08/25
Relevant Reading: N/A
Key Topics:
• No new material. Go down to the lab, spend lecture working on projects.