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Goal for Week 2: Create MATLAB variables, Assign values and Use variables for calculations

Summary of new tools and commands.

• * is multiplication operator which does a "matrix multiply" from linear algebra. The details of this operation are explained in task 2.5.
• .*, ./ is the operator which multiplies or divides each element by the corresponding values in lists and tables.
• .^ is the exponentiation operator which raises each value of a variable in the list to a power. For example, 2.^2 is two squared.
• ; indicates the end of a row of values.
• ' indicates a matrix transpose.
• : is used to create a list of variables with constant intervals, say the integers from 1 to 5. It also indicates (by itself) all entries in a list.
• pi is a built-in variable which is defined as the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.
• [ ] is a concatenation operator which combines values within the symbols.
• ( ) is a grouping operator in arithmetic. It is also used to identify certain members of lists and table.
• ' ' defines a character string.
• disp(string) is a function which displays the enclosed character string in the command window.
• num2str(number) converts the value of a numerical variable to a character string. This is used with disp() to show values of variables.
• zeros(r,c) creates a variable with the desired rows (r) and columns (c) and assigns all the initial values to be zero.
• clear variable removes the named variable from the work space.
• who, whos gives information on variables that are currently defined.

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