Section outline

  • Photograph of Chris SakerMA185: Introduction to MATLAB 

    Hi, I'm Chris Saker and I teach in this module, alongside Georgios Amanatidis and Mario Gutierrez-Roig.Welcome to the module. When you have completed a task, e.g. watched a video, read the lecture notes, or finished a problem set, tick the box next to the item to record your progress. Doing so will also release the next item in this week's learning pathway.

    In this taster material we are going to be taking a look at MATLAB, a piece of software you'll be using a lot during your time at Essex.

    Did you know that MATLAB is an abbreviation of matrix laboratory and has been around since the late 1970s?

    Read more at Wikipedia

    • Before the lab

      Over the next four weeks, we are going to learning to write basic code in MATLAB to allow us to answer several mathematical problems—but the skills you learn here are transferable to other programming languages and modules, as we will see then we move on to look at R later on in this module

      Before going any further, if you have not already done so make sure you are able to run MATLAB on the computer that you are using, hopefully, you did this last week, but if not, go back to last week's instructions and do that before going any further.

      Once that is done you are ready to get started. Before the lab, you need to work through the instructions on the following pages. Don't worry if it seems new to you, that will be true for lots of people on this module, we will not be assuming you have ever used Matlab before and if you need help with anything, just ask!


    • Introduction to MATLAB and script files Page
      Students must
      Mark as done
    • Functions in MATLAB Page
      Students must
      Mark as done
    • For Loops Page
      Students must
      Mark as done

    • In the lab

      In the lab, we are going to work in small groups (of 3-4) to write some MATLAB functions to allow us to answer some problems that it would be impractical (or at the very best tedious) to do by hand.

      At the start of the please make sure you have a copy of MATLAB running. You will be assigned a group to work with once the lab begins. Only one of you needs to submit the work (the first question asks you who you worked with). But I suggest you all share the file containing your solutions at the end of your work so that you can all try running the code and all have a copy of the files, as they may help you in subsequent weeks.


    • Assignment

      This week's assignment can be submitted using the link below:


    • Lab Assignment Lesson
      Students must
      Mark as done