MATLAB Demystified [Paperback]

David McMahon (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071485511 | ISBN-13: 978-0071485517 | Publication Date: April 6, 2007 | Edition: 1

Need to Learn MATLAB? Problem SOLVED!

Get started using MATLAB right away with help from this hands-on guide. MATLAB Demystified offers an effective and enlightening method for learning how to get the most out this powerful computational mathematics tool. 

Using an easy-to-follow format, this book explains the basics of MATLAB up front. You'll find out how to plot functions, solve algebraic equations, and compute integrals. You'll also learn how to solve differential equations, generate numerical solutions of ODEs, and work with special functions. Packed with hundreds of sample equations and explained solutions, and featuring end-of-chapter quizzes and a final exam, this book will teach you MATLAB essentials in no time at all.

• This self-teaching guide offers:
• The quickest way to get up and running on MATLAB
• Hundreds of worked examples with solutions
• Coverage of MATLAB 7
• A quiz at the end of each chapter to reinforce learning and pinpoint weaknesses
• A final exam at the end of the book
• A time-saving approach to performing better on homework or on the job

Simple enough for a beginner, but challenging enough for an advanced user, MATLAB Demystified is your shortcut to computational precision.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David McMahon is a physicist and researcher at Sandia National Laboratories. He is the author of Linear Algebra Demystified, Quantum Mechanics Demystified, and Relativity Demystified.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional; 1 edition (April 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071485511
• ISBN-13: 978-0071485517
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am is the author of Linear Algebra Demystified, Quantum Mechanics Demystified, Relativity Demystified, and A Beginner's Guide to Mathematica. He holds advanced degrees in physics and mathematics and works as a consultant at Sandia and Los Alamos National laboratories. He has worked on space nuclear propulsion, the ITER fusion project, optics, and quantum information theory. More information about my books including sample text can be found at http://www.davidmcmahonbooks.com/

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK introduction to Matlab but plagued by typos and other problems, May 28, 2007

By 

Richard Lewis (Ota-ku, Tokyo-to Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MATLAB Demystified (Paperback)

Overall this book is a reasonable introduction to Matlab 7.x but it tends to drag in places and seem rushed in others. Also, there are enough typographical errors in the examples to make it difficult to arrive at the expected results especially if one is a beginner. For example, the solution to one of the quiz questions in chapter 5 requires the use of the "eval" function which was never introduced in the book.

Oddly one of the most powerful features of Matlab, programming, is pasted onto the end of the statistics chapter as a brief introduction whereas it should have it's own chapter and covered in a lot more detail. Also, there are chapters on transforms and curve fitting but strangely no mention of time series.

Lastly, quizzes at the end of each chapter often leave out key material introduced in that chapter. Also, the final exam at the end of the book leaves out half of the later chapters.

This is an OK book if you want to master the basics of Matlab quickly but on it's own it's not enough. I would recommend the much better Getting Started with MATLAB 7: A Quick Introduction for Scientists and Engineers instead.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Book better suited for Student Edition of Matlab, November 11, 2007

By 

Howard R. Hansen (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MATLAB Demystified (Paperback)

First three chapters, The MATLAB Environment, Vectors and Matrices and Plotting and Graphics, provide a good introduction to Matlab. However, author does not mention that the Symbolic Toolbox is required to work the examples in Chapter 5, Solving Algebraic Equations and other Symbolic Tools, Chapter 6. Basic Symbolic Calculus and Differential Equations, Chapter 8 Integration, and Chapter 9 Transforms. It appears the author assumed the only persons who would buy the book were college students who bought the Student edition of Matlab. Persons who only have access to the commercial version of Matlab will not be able to work the examples in Chapters 5, 6, 8, and 9.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Only decent content, poor editing, September 2, 2009

By 

John in Seattle (Everett, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MATLAB Demystified (Paperback)

Another review pointed out the poor editing with this book. For instance, chapter 2 includes a phrase "we have seen how to create a row vector ... using the linspace command" but no reference to the linspace command is ever made. The text also references another MATLAB book, but does not call it out. It almost make me think this is a stripped down text of a larger work, but that is supposition on my part.

The text in the examples is sometimes wrong (y=x^2 will not often work - you need to type y=x.^2) although the book will eventually point out how to enter the correct syntax. I wish it would do this before showing the wrong text to type, though.

All in all, this book is not worth the time needed to detangle it. It is incomplete and needs a new editing pass to make it worthwhile.