Matlab Guide [Hardcover]

Desmond J. Higham (Author), Nicholas J. Higham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2000 | ISBN-10: 0898714699 | ISBN-13: 978-0898714692 | Edition: 1st

Des and Nick Higham, enthusiastic MATLAB users since the early 1980s, present a guide covering all that most users will ever need to know about MATLAB. Beginners will find a lively, concise introduction to the most popular and important features of MATLAB and the Symbolic Math Toolbox, with a wealth of instructive examples. Existing MATLAB users will appreciate the explanations of new MATLAB features and the coverage of advanced topics such as Handle Graphics, structures and cell arrays, sparse matrices, profiling and vectorization. The book's logical organization and detailed index make it a useful reference for both novices and experts alike. The book describes MATLAB 6, but it can also be used with earlier versions. The authors explain many recently added features of MATLAB, including LAPACK-based matrix computations and the latest differential equation solvers, and also reveal many "hidden" features. Readers will benefit from the authors' deep knowledge of MATLAB as well as their expertise in numerical computation. They pass along a wealth of useful tips gained from years of using MATLAB for teaching and research.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A comprehensive yet lively guide to MATLAB." -- Linda Petzold, Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara.

"Definitely the best MATLAB guide. A lively introduction to MATLAB and a compact reference for the most popular and important features...of MATLAB." -- Zhaojun Bai, Professor, Departments of Computer Science and Mathematics, University of California, Davis.

"My copy of this special book will live on the little shelf next to my keyboard, my little book cache, where I can reach it at any time." -- Nick Trefethen, Oxford University.

"This introduction is perfect for many classroom needs. I love the choice of topics and the examples." -- Charles Van Loan, Professor and Chair, Department of Computer Science, Cornell University.

"What a charming book! I like to think of myself as an adequately skilled MATLAB user, but I learned a lot from it." -- Kathryn A. Moler, Assistant Professor of Applied Physics, Stanford University.

Book Description

MATLAB is an interactive system for numerical computation that is widely used for teaching and research in industry and academia. This second edition of MATLAB Guide revises and updates the first, whilst remaining a lively, concise introduction to the important features of MATLAB 7 and the Symbolic Math Toolbox. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 283 pages
• Publisher: Society for Industrial & Applied; 1st edition (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898714699
• ISBN-13: 978-0898714692
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,363,418 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Triple C - concise, comprehensive, captivating, November 28, 2002

By 

Harald Hentschke (Tuebingen Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MATLAB Guide (Paperback)

Matlab Guide is a clearly written, well structured and quite comprehensive account of the capabilities of Matlab. In each chapter, the material explained swiftly progresses from the simple to the more complex, making this book a concise source of information and an excellent reference for the intermediate to advanced Matlab user. The focus is on mathematical topics; the pieces of example code are a nice mixture of playful toys and serious applications. Also, the book contains important hints concerning efficient programming, it has a very agreeable layout, and the citations at the end of each chapter do their job in keeping the reader's mood at a high level. Clearly, absolute beginners may have a hard time working their way through it, and the coverage of isolated topics, like file input/output, is a little meager. However, this is only a minor point. All in all, so far having used matlab primarily for data analysis (electrophysiology) I very much enjoyed and benfited from a fresh look at it from a different perspective.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Book, Well Structured, November 3, 2000

By 

Philip Clarke (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Matlab Guide (Hardcover)

Following review posted on amazon.co.uk

I liked this book. I spend a good proportion of my working life talking about MATLAB and it is refreshing to find a text which focuses upon what the user wants to do and sees MATLAB as being a means to an end, rather than a reproduction of the reference manual. The book reads well and has a clear organisation. Having a close relationship with MATLAB means I am often asked about books on the subject, and this is one I would be very happy to recommend.

Dr Philip Clarke, The MathWorks Ltd.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A serious book for all users of MATLAB, October 1, 2002

By 

Dr Craig Lucas - See all my reviews

This review is from: MATLAB Guide (Paperback)

This is a book that doesn't ignore that MATLAB is a tool for mathematicians, but at the same doesn't alienate the non-specialist.

Starting with a basic tutorial and continuing with useful short cuts and introductions to script files, functions and graphics this book gives the reader an immediate working knowledge of the basic functions and data structures of MATLAB.

Later chapters address linear algebra (with treatment of eigenvalue problems, linear systems and matrix decompositions) and numerical methods (for differential equations and other problems); both with enough mathematical background and each topic can be accessed independently.

The book finishes with important topics such as optimizing functions, input and output, use of the Symbolic Toolbox and a final chapter with more tricks and tips.

You are left convinced that the authors are extensive users and admirers of this software, and through this book the reader can become the same.