Both the surf function and its companion mesh display surfaces in three dimensions. surf displays both the connecting lines and the faces of the surface in color. mesh produces wireframe surfaces that color only the lines connecting the defining points.

Subplots

You can display multiple plots in different subregions of the same window using the subplot function.

For example, create four plots in a 2-by-2 grid within a figure window.

t = 0:pi/10:2*pi;

[X,Y,Z] = cylinder(4*cos(t));

subplot(2,2,1); mesh(X); title('X');

subplot(2,2,2); mesh(Y); title('Y');

subplot(2,2,3); mesh(Z); title('Z');

subplot(2,2,4); mesh(X,Y,Z); title('X,Y,Z');

The first two inputs to the subplot function indicate the number of plots in each row and column. The third input specifies which plot is active.

The simplest type of MATLAB^® program is called a script. A script is a file with a .m extension that contains multiple sequential lines of MATLAB commands and function calls. You can run a script by typing its name at the command line.

Sample Script

To create a script, use the edit command,

edit plotrand

This opens a blank file named plotrand.m. Enter some code that plots a vector of random data:

n = 50;

r = rand(n,1);

plot(r)

Next, add code that draws a horizontal line on the plot at the mean:

m = mean(r);

hold on

plot([0,n],[m,m])

hold off

title('Mean of Random Uniform Data')

Whenever you write code, it is a good practice to add comments that describe the code. Comments allow others to understand your code, and can refresh your memory when you return to it later. Add comments using the percent (%) symbol.

% Generate random data from a uniform distribution

% and calculate the mean. Plot the data and the mean.

n = 50;            % 50 data points

r = rand(n,1);

plot(r)

% Draw a line from (0,m) to (n,m)

m = mean(r);

hold on

plot([0,n],[m,m])

hold off

title('Mean of Random Uniform Data')

Save the file in the current folder. To run the script, type its name at the command line:

plotrand

You can also run scripts from the Editor by pressing the Run button, .

Loops and Conditional Statements

Within a script, you can loop over sections of code and conditionally execute sections using the keywordsfor, while, if, and switch.

For example, create a script named calcmean.m that uses a for loop to calculate the mean of five random samples and the overall mean.

nsamples = 5;

npoints = 50;

for k = 1:nsamples

    currentData = rand(npoints,1);

    sampleMean(k) = mean(currentData);

end

overallMean = mean(sampleMean)

Now, modify the for loop so that you can view the results at each iteration. Display text in the Command Window that includes the current iteration number, and remove the semicolon from the assignment tosampleMean.

for k = 1:nsamples

   iterationString = ['Iteration #',int2str(k)];

   disp(iterationString)

   currentData = rand(npoints,1);

   sampleMean(k) = mean(currentData)

end

overallMean = mean(sampleMean)

When you run the script, it displays the intermediate results, and then calculates the overall mean.

calcmean

Iteration #1

sampleMean =

    0.3988

Iteration #2

sampleMean =

    0.3988    0.4950

Iteration #3

sampleMean =

    0.3988    0.4950    0.5365

Iteration #4

sampleMean =

    0.3988    0.4950    0.5365    0.4870

Iteration #5

sampleMean =

    0.3988    0.4950    0.5365    0.4870    0.5501

overallMean =

    0.4935

In the Editor, add conditional statements to the end of calcmean.m that display a different message depending on the value of overallMean.

if overallMean < .49

   disp('Mean is less than expected')

elseif overallMean > .51

   disp('Mean is greater than expected')

else

   disp('Mean is within the expected range')

end

Run calcmean and verify that the correct message displays for the calculated overallMean. For example:

overallMean =

    0.5178

Mean is greater than expected

Script Locations

MATLAB looks for scripts and other files in certain places. To run a script, the file must be in the current folder or in a folder on the search path.

By default, the MATLAB folder that the MATLAB Installer creates is on the search path. If you want to store and run programs in another folder, add it to the search path. Select the folder in the Current Folder browser, right-click, and then select Add to Path.

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