CE 205-MATLAB for Civil Engineers

Irfan Turk
Fatih University, 2013-14

Introduction
MATLAB programming language is built around

functions.
A function takes an input argument from the user, and
generates an output to a program, or code where it is
called.
function output=my_function_name(x)
Above, the name of the function is
my_function_name, and the name assigned final
result, or answer isoutput, and the name of variable,
or user input argument is x.

Example
function Result=my_func_cube(x)
% Entered numbers third cube is calculated
Result=x^3;
>> my_func_cube(4)

is typed in command window

ans =
64
>>

is the output from the function

Example
function [dist,vel,accel]=motion(t)
% This function calculates the distance, velocity, and
%acceleration of a particular car for a given value of t
% assuming all 3 parameters are initially 0
accel=(1/2)*t;
vel=(t^2)/4;
dist=(t^3)/12;
EDU>> [dist,vel,accel]=motion(10)
distance =
83.3333
EDU>> motion(10)
velocity =
ans =
25
83.3333
acceleration =
EDU>>
5

Examples
Example 6.1: For each function below, write a function

in a Matlab editor .
i. f(x,y)=10*x-2*y
ii. f(x,y)=x*e^y
iii. f(x)=sin(x)+cos(x)
iv. f(x,y,z)=x*e^(y/z)

User-Controlled Input and Output

EDU>> p=input('enter something\n','s');
enter something
12345
EDU>> p
p=
12345
EDU>> p=input('enter something\n','s');
enter something
how are you
EDU>> p
p=
how are you

User-Controlled Input and Output

EDU>> p=input('enter something\n');
enter something
123
EDU>> p
p=
123
EDU>> p=input('enter something\n');
enter something
hola
??? Error using ==> input
Undefined function or variable 'hola'.
enter something

User-Controlled Input and Output

EDU>> disp('This is just a text to show')
This is just a text to show
EDU>>
EDU>> x=[1 2 3 4]
x=
1 2 3 4
EDU>> disp(x)
1 2 3 4
EDU>>

Formatted Output-fprintf
EDU>> t=15.3456789012
t=
15.345678901199999
EDU>> fprintf('There are %f students\n',t)
There are 15.345679 students
EDU>> fprintf('There are %e students\n',t)
There are 1.534568e+001 students

Special Format Commands

Format
Command
\n
\r
\t
\b

Resulting Action
Linefeed
carriage return(similar to linefeed)
tab
backspace

Type Field Format

Type Field
%f
%e
%d
%g
%c
%s

Result
fixed-point notation
exponential notation
decimal notation
whichever is shorter %f, or %e
character information(displays one character at a time)
strings of characters(displays the entire string)

Width Field/Precision Field

EDU>> t
t=
15.345678901199999
EDU>> fprintf('There are %5.3f students\n',t)
There are 15.346 students
Note: %5.3f specifies the minimum total width

available to display your result is 5 digits, 3 of which

are after the decimal point.

Formatted Output-sprintf
sprintf function is similar to fprintf function. The

difference is instead of sending the formatted string to

screen, sprintf assigns it to a name as well.
i.e:
EDU>> r=sprintf('There are %5.3f students\n',t)
r=
There are 15.346 students
EDU>> r
r=
There are 15.346 students

Reading and Writing Data from Files

EDU>> A=xlsread('trying.xlsx')
A=
1 2 3 4 5 -1
3 0 -6 -7 2 3
-4 1 6 2 3 5
EDU>> M =M=A(:,2:5)
2
0
1

3 4 5
-6 -7 2
6 2 3

EDU>> xlswrite('trying_1',M)
EDU>> M
M=
2 3 4 5
0 -6 -7 2
1 6 2 3
EDU>>

EDU>> [data,fs]=wavread('trying.wav');
EDU>> sound(beta,fs)