Surface Plots with MATLAB

We will plot the surface of equation z = x2 y 2 as well as the level curves for c = 2, 1, 0, 1, 2. In MATLAB, to get a rectangular domain 2 x 2, 2 y 2 in steps of 0.2, we use the command >> [x, y] = meshgrid([-2:0.2:2],[-2:0.2:2]); We calculate z = x2 y 2 as follows (note the use of .s). >> z = x.^2 - y.^2; To obtain the surface plot, we use either of the following. >> mesh(x,y,z) >> surf(x,y,z) %this one has colors

To plot the level curves for c = 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, we use the following commands. >> [c,h]=contour(x,y,z,[-2,-1,0,1,2]); >> clabel(c,h) %this labels the c values on the contour plot
2
0

1.5 4 1 3
2

-2
0

-2

-1

-1
0
1

2 1

0.5
0

0 -1 -2 -3 -4 2 1 0 0 -1 -2 -2 -1 1 2

0
0

-0.5
1

-1

-1
0

-1.5

-1
-2

-2

-1
-0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2

-2 -2

-1.5

-1

The plot of the surface of equation 20 3 + x2 + 2y 2 as well as the level curves for c = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 are shown below. z=
5

7 6 5

2
2

3
1 4 0 3
5

2 1 0 5 5

-1
4

-2
1

2
1

-3

-4 0 0 -5 -5 -5 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0

Gilles Cazelais. Typeset with L T X on February 5, 2007. A E