ENG 4002
Introduction to Matlab
Programing and Problem Solving
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Jorico Course Outline Template - Oct 2014
1. Location of the course
University of Sydney
University of New South Wales
Course location will be scheduled one month advance
2. Table of Contents
3. Staff Contact Details
4. Course Details
Summary of the Course
Aim of the Course
Student Learning Outcomes
Further Suggestion
5. Soft Skill gained for the Inclusion of Content and Teaching Approach
6. Teaching Strategies
7. Assessment/ Achievement
8. Expected Resource for Students
3. Staff Contact Details
Position
Lecturer/tutor
Name
Bo Wang
Email
Casper.wang@jorico.com.au
Availability;
times and
location
TBD
Phone
0430 156 246
4. Course details
Conduct hours:
8 hours roughly
Summary of the Course
This course is about modeling and analyzing with Matlab. Matlab is a multi-paradigm numerical
computing environment, and it involves matrix manipulations, implementation of algorithms,
plotting of functions and data, etc. This course gives you an opportunity to master this powerful tool
that could be used in building mathematic model of practical case, analyzing experimental data or
simply solving equations involved in engineering problems. In the course, you will be given no
more than 2 hours for general introduction including basic interface, syntax basics, basic
operations and plotting which are simple but important for Matlab study. Then programming basics
would be followed which would take approximate 2 hours. Finally, applications associated with
Matlab programming would be introduced. As previously described, this course is mostly designed
for students with desire of improvement on Matlab programming with applications (curve fitting,
equation solving) related.
Syllabus
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Jorico Course Outline Template - Oct 2014
The course will cover following topics:
 General introduction
o Basic Interface: This introduction would give students a chance to familiar with Matlab
interface which include workspace, command window, history command, different
buttons, etc. Additionally some quite useful commends are introduced such as help and
document commend.
o Syntax Basics: Defining rules of variables and matrices are included in this part. After
this function handles would be taught as a powerful tool such as returning values from
specific function.
o Basic Operations: Briefly talk about basic operations of vectors and matrices, these
operations ranged from simple arithmetic operations to more complex one as matrix
index operations. Later on an introduction of rational operators and precedence would
be given.
o Plotting: Firstly, standard plot along with customized featuring is detailed. Then special
form of plot and 3D plot are mentioned with simple samples.
 Programming Relates
o Scripts and Functions: In this section, scripts and functions as two different basic form
of Matlab programming is briefly introduced. Based on that, some potential advanced
uses are discussed.
o Control Flow: Conditional statement and loop control statement as two ubiquities control
appear in lots of programs are detailed and practiced.
o Debugging: Debugging as an important step of programming need to be taken care.
Different methods of defining bugs are illustrated here.
o Performance Improvement: Methods of tracing and improving performance of a certain
program are shown in this section.
 Applications
o Equations Solving: This section would cover different methods of solving different types
of equations ranged from linear algebra to ODE.
o Curve Fitting: How to program to fit curve to polynomials would be focused in this
section.
Assumed Knowledge:
Students should have a general idea of tertiary higher mathematic knowledge which include
integral, differentiation, ODE, etc.
Aims of the Course




Understand and familiar with Matlab basic interface and operations
Develop general sense of programming in Matlab
Assist student with further work with building mathematic model with Matlab
Enable students to explore and gain further understanding of how to apply Matlab programming
to solve complex equation effectively and analyze some laboratory result with proper
mathematic model.
Student learning outcomes
At the conclusion of this course the student will be able to:
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Jorico Course Outline Template - Oct 2014





Be proficiency in using basic Matlab commends and syntax
Develop relatively deep sense of programming steps
Obtain ability of debugging and improving existing programs
Be cable of solving different equations with different methods involved with Matlab
Be able to analyze experimental data with proper curve fitting
Future suggestion
The students will be encouraged to develop the following future Attributes by undertaking the
selected activities and knowledge content. The suggest attributes.
At the conclusion of this course the student will be able to:
 Investigate an experimental data with existing concept and build an appropriate mathematic
model by using Matlab.
 Create a method of solving complex equations that cannot be solve with just built-in commend
in Matlab.
 Rewrite existing program to largely reduce its running time or largely increase result accuracy.
5. Soft skill gained for the inclusion of content and teaching approach
Describing and solving problem with mathematic model is one of the most important skills for
engineering/science students to acquire. Programming in Matlab builds a method of describing
complex reality data with a more comprehensive presentation such a mathematic model which can
simply a series of plots. Additionally, with proper establishment of mathematic model in Matlab,
students are able to solve engineering questions in a quicker and more accurate way. This course
takes students working on solving engineering problems with building mathematic model via
programming in Matlab. A series of assessments need to be finished with appropriate design of
program during the course to ensure a sufficient proficiency level student can achieve by
conclusion of this course.
6. Teaching strategies



Lectures will be conducted to give students a guide via a designed approach to problem solving
via develop Matlab program, including concepts, method and some practical cases.
In-class assessment will be provided to give student a good opportunity to test their
instantaneous learning outcomes. And meanwhile it is also a good review of their knowledge.
Take-home assessment will be kept concise instead of tremendous, and these assessments
give a good practice to students as a reinforcement of the crucial topic and bringing up their
weakness during learning.
7. Assessment / Achievement
Assessment should be divided into two types: in-class and take-home which would be detailed in
following table.
Assessment task
Length
Learning
Graduate
Due date
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Jorico Course Outline Template - Oct 2014
Familiar with Syntax
Basics and operations
Familiar with
Operations
10 minutes
Build simple script
Build simple function
Debugging practice
Performance
improvement practice
10 minutes
10 minutes
10 minutes
15 minutes
Edit a proper equation
solver with some
specific equations
20 minutes/
30 minutes
Practice curve fitting
20 minutes/
30 minutes
10 minutes
outcomes
assessed
Matlab basics
should be familiar
with by students
Students are able
to develop a
simple program
via using Matlab
and debugging/
improve existing
program
Students should
be able to code to
solve some basic
engineering
related equations
Students should
be able to code to
fitting polynomials
attributes
assessed
Graduate should
gain basic
mathematic skills
that associated with
Matlab
Graduate should
form basic steps of
develop a new
program and
modifying existing
program
In class
In class
In class
In class
In class
In class
Graduate should be
proficiency with
solving equations
with Matlab
In class/
Take home
Graduate needs
form sense of curve
fitting of different
basic equations
In class/
Take home
8. Expected Resources for students
Matlab Programming Fundamentals
MIT Open Courses
Self-designed Handouts
You should provide a list of useful and/or required resources which can include amongst others:
 textbook details, including title, publisher, edition, year of publication
 required and suggested additional readings
 material accessible online, including in SAI Global.
 recommended websites
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Jorico Course Outline Template - Oct 2014