MATLAB For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Appendix A

MATLAB Functions

This appendix provides you with an overview of the MATLAB functions. It would be impossible to provide a complete list of every function here, but these functions see common use for solving math problems. To see an exhaustive list of MATLAB functions, check out https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/referencelist.html?type=function.

Each function helps you perform a specific task within MATLAB. Tables A-1 through A-21 contain function names and a short description of the task that each function performs. If you need more information than this appendix gives you, you can obtain additional information by typing help <function_name> in the MATLAB command window and pressing Enter. Of course, you also have the information found in this book, and you can search in Help. See the “Getting additional help with MATLAB” section of Chapter 2 for some useful information on using the Help resources that MATLAB provides.

TABLE A-1 Arithmetic Functions

Function	Description
ceil	Rounds toward positive infinity
diff	Differences and approximate derivatives
fix	Rounds toward zero
floor	Rounds toward negative infinity
idivide	Integer division with rounding option
ldivide	Left-array division — comparable to .\
minus	Minus — comparable to – subtracting two objects
mldivide	Solves systems of linear equations Ax = B for x — comparable to \
mod	Modulus after division
mpower	Matrix power — comparable to ^
mrdivide	Solves systems of linear equations ...