ABSTRACT
MATLAB® is a high-level technical computing language and interactive environment for algorithm development, data visualization, data analysis, and numerical computation. MATLAB is one of a number of commercially available sophisticated mathematical computation tools, which also include Maple, Mathematica, and Mathcad. The name MATLAB stands for MATrix LABoratory, because the software's basic data element is a matrix (array). MATLAB contains a large number of functions that access proven numerical libraries, such as LINPACK and EISPACK. In fact, MATLAB has many built-in tools for solving problems and developing graphical illustrations. This means that many common tasks can be accomplished with a single function call. MATLAB was originally written in Fortran and later rewritten in C, a precursor of C++. The beauty of MATLAB is that we need to know only a tiny bit to get going and be productive. Once we get started, we can pick up new skills quickly with MATLAB’s excellent online help features. MATLAB is optimized for matrices; thus, if a problem can be formulated with a matrix solution, MATLAB executes substantially faster than a similar program in a high-level language.
