MH 1401

ALGORITHMS &
COMPUTING I
Thomas PEYRIN
AY 2015/16 Semester 1

17.08.2015 Lecture 1: Basics

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Instructor

Thomas PEYRIN
School of Physical & Mathematical Sciences
Division of Mathematical Sciences
Office: SPMS-MAS-05-14
Email: thomas.peyrin@ntu.edu.sg

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Your Background
Do you have any kind of programming experience? (e.g.
classes in high school, hobby, community center classes, etc.)

1. Yes
2. No

0%
N

Ye
s

0%

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Goals of This Course

Develop basic computing/programming skills using

MATLAB
Learn how to do elementary computations to
Visualize data
Write simple programs

First ideas about algorithms and their analysis

No need to be scared!

Have fun achieving high marks!

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Why MATLAB?
MATLAB:
Is super easy to learn!

Is a mathematical and graphical software package

Has many built-in functions
Toolboxes can be added (e.g. for signal processing)

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2 ways to use MATLAB

Our Computer Labs
Software as a Service

Your Mac/Windows/Linux Laptop

Windows Remote Desktop to apple.spms.ntu.edu.sg
User guide for set up is available in NTU learn
Use VPN connection if you want to access from outside

NTU:
http://www.ntu.edu.sg/cits/itnetworking/remoteaccess/Page
s/quickstartguide.aspx
IT experts will be in the computer labs on first lab sessions

in order to assist you with the setup

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MH 1401 Algorithms & Computing I

Outline
MATLAB Desktop Environment
Variables, Expressions, Constants
Types

Random Numbers
Lessons Learned

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MATLAB Desktop Environment

!!!Help Browser!!!
Menu bar

Change Current Folder

here

In the Command
Window, MATLAB
can be used
intuitively and
immediately
responds with a
result.

Prompt

Content of
Current
Folder

Workspace

Command
History

FIGURE 1.1 MATLAB Command Window

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MH 1401 Algorithms & Computing I

Outline
MATLAB Desktop Environment
Variables, Expressions, Constants
Types

Random Numbers
Lessons Learned

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Variables
To store a value in a MATLAB session, or in a program, a

variable is used.
The workspace window shows variables that have been
created.
Assignment statement is used to create a variable:
variablename = expression
= does NOT mean equality!!!

Example:
>> mynum = 6
mynum =
6

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Variables
Putting a colon (;) at the end of a statement suppresses

the output.
Example:
>> mynum = 6;
>>

MATLAB uses a default variable named ans if an

expression is typed at the prompt and it is not assigned to

a variable.
Example:
>> 6+3
ans = 9

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Variables
A shortcut for retyping commands is to hit the up arrow,

which will go back to the previously typed commands.

Very useful for debugging!

Some common programming terms:

Putting the first or initial value in a variable is called initializing the

variable.
Adding to a variable is called incrementing.
Subtracting from a variable is called decrementing.

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Variables
The name of a variable:
Must start with a letter
After that it can contain letters, digits and the underscore

character (e.g. value_1)

No space is allowed!

namelengthmax tells you what is the maximum length of the

name (63 on apple.spms.ntu.edu.sg)

Is case-sensitive, that is mynum, MyNum and MYNUM are three

different variables
Reserved words or key words cannot be used as a variable

name

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Variables
whos show variables that have been defined in this

Command Window.
If nothing happens if you enter whos it means there arent

any variables.
clear clears out all variables so they no longer exist

clear variablename1 variablename2 clears out a

list of variables (separate the names with space)

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Expressions
Expressions can be created using:
Values
Variables that have been already created
Operators
Built-in functions
Parentheses
Example:
>> 2*sin(1.4)
ans =
1.9709

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Operators
Unary operators operate on a single value or operand.
Binary operators operate on two values or operands.
Common operators for numerical expressions:
+ addition
- negation, subtraction
* multiplication
/ division (divided by, e.g. 115/5=23)
\ division (divided into, e.g. 5\115=23)
^ exponentiation (e.g. 23^2=529)
Scientific or exponential notation

>> 2*10^4
>> 2e4

20000

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Operator precedence rule

Some operators have precedence over others.

>> 4+5*3 = 19
>> (4+5)*3 = 27
Within a given precedence level, expressions are evaluated

from left to right.

Order (from the highest to the lowest):
() parentheses
^ exponentiation
- negation
*,/,\ all multiplication and division
+, - addition and subtraction
Note: if in doubt, use parentheses

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Clicker Question 1
What is the result of

>> 4^(2--1)

1. 15
2. 4

0%

0%
17

0%
4

0%
15

4. 17

64

3. 64

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Clicker Question 1
What is the result of

>> 4^(2--1)

1. 15
2. 4

0%

0%
17

0%
4

0%
15

4. 17

64

3. 64

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Clicker Question 2
What is the result of

>> 4^2--1

1. 15
2. 4

0%

0%
17

0%
4

0%
15

4. 17

64

3. 64

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Clicker Question 2
What is the result of

>> 4^2--1

1. 15
2. 4

0%

0%
17

0%
4

0%
15

4. 17

64

3. 64

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Built-in functions
To call a function, the name of the function is given

followed by the argument(s) that are passed to the

function in parentheses.
Most functions return a value.

Example:
function argument

>> abs(-4) = 4
Function call

return value

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Built-in functions
Rounding and remainder functions:
fix
floor
ceil
round
rem
sign

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Constants
Variables are used to store values that might change.
Constants are used to store values that cannot possibly

change.
Examples of constants are:
pi
3.14159
-1
i or j
inf

NaN
0/0 (not a number)
How do you get e?

>> exp(1) = 2.7183

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MH 1401 Algorithms & Computing I

Outline
MATLAB Desktop Environment
Variables, Expressions, Constants
Types

Random Numbers
Lessons Learned

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Digital information
Bit = 0 or 1
Byte = 8 bits: 00000000, 00000001,

00000010,, 11111110, 11111111

KiloByte = 1024 Byte;
MegaByte = 1024*1024 Byte;

GigaByte = 1024*1024*1024 Byte

Read this text:

http://kb.iu.edu/data/ackw.html

32 GB
25 movies
7000 songs
125,000 ebooks

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Types
Every expression or variable has a type associated with it.
A class is a combination of a type and the operations that can be

performed on it.
float, real (e.g. 2.3)
double (for double precision, default) stores larger numbers than single

integer

data (0 to 127)

sign

Signed integer (the first bit encodes the sign):

int8, int16, int32, int64

int8

Unsigned integer (sign not encoded):

uint8, uint16, uint32, uint64

logical: either true or false

uint8
data (0 to 255)

char
Used to store single characters (e.g. w)
Used to store strings (= sequence of characters, e.g. cat)
Both characters and strings are enclosed in single quotes (without them a letter

would be interpreted as a variable)

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Characters and encoding

ASCII: American Standard Code for Information Interchange
is the most common character encoding
Specifies 128 characters with integer values 0 to 127 (see next slide)
>> double(a) = 97, >> double(b) = 98, >> double(c) = 99
>> char(97) = a, >> char(98) = b,
>> double(abcd) = 97 98 99 100

Math can be done on characters

>> char(abcd+1) = bcde

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ASCII Table

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Type casting
Type casting is the conversion of a value from one type to

another
The name of the casting function is the name of the target

type
Type casting is useful to save memory (e.g. indices in for

loops etc.)

Example:
>> num = 6+3
>> numi = int32(num)

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MH 1401 Algorithms & Computing I

Outline
MATLAB Desktop Environment
Variables, Expressions, Constants
Types

Random Numbers
Lessons Learned

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Random numbers
Random numbers are
useful e.g. for testing
often required in cryptography

rand can be used to generate

uniformly distributed
random
real numbers
in the range from 0 to 1

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Random numbers
The seed is always the same => the random numbers

sequence will be the same if you restart MATLAB

Solution: change the seed once at the beginning of each

session using rng(shuffle)

(old version: rand(shuffle,sum(100*clock)) )

Change the range of the random numbers:

0 to N:
>> rand*N
low to high:
>> rand*(high-low)+low

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Random numbers
randn can be used to generate
normally distributed
random
real numbers

Random integers can be produced

using the round function:
>> round(rand*N)
using the built-in function: >> randi(N)

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MH 1401 Algorithms & Computing I

Outline
MATLAB Desktop Environment
Variables, Expressions, Constants
Types

Random Numbers
Lessons Learned

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Lessons learned
Common Pitfalls:
Putting space in a variable name
Confusing the format of an assignment statement as

expression = variablename
rather than
variablename = expression
Using a built-in function name as a variable name, and then trying

to use the function

Confusing the two division operators / and \
Forgetting the operator precedence rules

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Lessons learned (ctd)

Common Pitfalls (ctd):
Confusing the order of arguments passed to functions for example,

to find the remainder of dividing 3 into 10 using rem(3,10) instead

of rem(10,3)

Forgetting to use parentheses to pass arguments to a function (e.g.,

fix 2.3 instead of fix(2.3))

Programming Style guidelines:

Use mnemonic variable names (names that make sense, such as

radius instead of xyz)

Although variable named result and RESULT are different, using the

same word(s) for different variables would be confusing

Do not use the names of built-in functions as variable names
If different sets of random numbers are desired, set the seed for the

rand function

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Topics of First Lab Session

How to use MATLAB IDE
Create simple MATLAB scripts using basic operations like

addition, multiplication, etc.

Generate random numbers

Lab assignment 1 available in NTU learn

Please bring a thumb drive to store your data !