Anyone use Matlab?

[Yew]

Hey all.

Im currently working on assignment that uses matlab, and Im wondering if anyone can suggest some Internet sites that has any notes and guides/tips for when I inevitably get stuck? Im in the awkward situation of being able to do stuff by hand, but not code a matlab script for it

Thanks, Antony

 

[newbie babs]

Most of my students and a friend at University that's in tomorrow helping me with fees.

I am sure someone on here will know but if you get stuck let me know I can ask Kyle tomorrow

 

[sprite]

I use MATLAB at uni. What do you need to script? I learnt soley from looking on MATLAB's own site and at other peoples scripts and functions. Can you code in another language? If you can you will find it easier as anyone who can code will tell you - once you can code in any language it is just a case of learning syntax and features for other languages as the aproach is often the same.

 

[Lampshade]

I used it at uni, it's possibly the most unnecessarily complicated piece of software ever created. What is it you need to do?

 

[bb21]

MatLab is not very efficient, but for basic mathematical tasks it is sufficient and rather intuitive.

 

[Yew]

Its generally just doing maths theory, stuff like Gaussian elimination, newton rhapson method. Stuff in that area. Its stuff that I can (or just about) can do on paper, and its just getting my head around matlab again, and Im also wondering how far matlabs basic programming goes, eg; can I type Gauss(A) and it will do the gaussian elimination of matrix A, or would I have to do my own steps for that.

I havent done any other coding before, as I assumed as an engineer it wouldnt be useful (as I guessed most of the functions would be plug ins for CAD software, rather than using the giant mutant graphical calculator that is matlab)

 

[bb21]

Do you want me to send you some material that our third years use? The first few sections can be useful and are not difficult.

Did they teach you how to use MatLab or did you have to learn it by yourself?

 

[Gathursty]

I used to use Matlab but overwhelmingly at our university, R is the program of choice. It's incredibly versatile but you need to be good at coding exactly what you want. On the flipside, you can pretty much google any query you have and find a good answer on all things R as I'm sure is this case with your Matlab issue.

 

[Yew]

Did they teach you how to use MatLab or did you have to learn it by yourself?

we where 'taught' matlab by working through workbooks, that bear little resemblance to the questions we have been set. (different lecturers)

So far, the actual maths isnt very hard (so far), but the coding for it is. Nobody ever told me it would be advantageous for me to learn a coading language. Im not looking foraward to the maths that we have barely been taught and can barely do.

and then of course, the Engineering building is locked down as the Princess Royal is visiting to open up the building, so no help for me from lecturers :/


Its starting to feel more and more like the university dont give a crap about us, and that they are trying to force us to quit. I wanted to go to the maths support centre, however Ive just found out that its not open between now and my deadline.

Anyone got any ideas who I could go to to get help/more time/my crap lectures sacked/the attitude of the university changed to actually support us? It shouldnt get to the point where you are on the verge of crying because you cant do some coursework

 

[sprite]

Anyone got any ideas who I could go to to get help/more time/my crap lectures sacked/the attitude of the university changed to actually support us? It shouldnt get to the point where you are on the verge of crying because you cant do some coursework

Try sitting in an exam that you have no idea what is going on in. You attended all the lectures, made as good notes as you could and revised like mad. I answered less than half the marks available. During the exam I nearly broke down realising that I had failed it, that I would most likely loose the Honours status of my degree, or just get a 3rd meaning that I would be unable to get a PGCE place and not get to teach.
In 1 and a half hours, 1 exam potentially ruined my future plans.

I have to pick myself up and keep revising for 2 more exams that are likely to be just as hard.

I think it is telling that the best grade I have achieved on my physics degree was the programming unit I did in 2nd year and attended 2 lectures of, then stopped going as I could teach myself better. I got 98% (It was coursework based via weekly units of work).

Have you emailed your personal tutor to try get some help? Or to atleast let them know what the situation is?

 

[tony_mac]

I'm sorry to hear that it's been so difficult.

If many others suffered the same problem, then there is some hope that the marks will be moderated upwards.

Maybe you should check your University's degree classification rules.

From reading ours, failing one module (except a compulsory one) does not stop you getting a classified degree.
If you don't get a classified degree then there is also an option to resit failed exams, although they would only count as a maximum of 40%.

 

[sprite]

If you don't get a classified degree then there is also an option to resit failed exams, although they would only count as a maximum of 40%.

Final year - no retakes I am afraid.

 

[142094]

SPSS is similar software that is hard to use and sometimes doesn't work. One of the textbooks I had said that if it can't do a calculation properly, it will often just spit out a random answer without telling you.

 

[tony_mac]

Final year - no retakes I am afraid.

Did you check?
You can retake here in the final year if you don't get a classified degree but your average mark is good enough. However, you can't retake if you get a third.
(Obviously, it means finding something else to do for next year as well).

 

[Crossover]

I used it at uni, it's possibly the most unnecessarily complicated piece of software ever created. What is it you need to do?

I concur with this...I used it for some signal processing and just about managed to amend code given to us...not easy IMO

Final year - no retakes I am afraid.

I think at my uni we could and certainly could fail a couple of non-FYP modules and still get an "ordinary" degree

________________________

Has anyone ever had the joy of using MAPLE?

 

[Yew]

Ive found out that this was actually set by the same lecturer we had problems with last year, not only is his teachign awful, but he set a really hard exam (another lecturer looked through his 'mock exam' and she couldnt do it)

It seems the problem is that the stuff we have covered in maths lectures, and the stuff we have done in matlab, doesnt really marry up. ie: I spent a whole day trying to do a question in the wrong part of matlab.

Anyone know what the runge kutta method is? My mate whos a 3rd year at Nottingham hasnt heard of it.

 

[Lampshade]

Try sitting in an exam that you have no idea what is going on in. You attended all the lectures, made as good notes as you could and revised like mad. I answered less than half the marks available. During the exam I nearly broke down realising that I had failed it, that I would most likely loose the Honours status of my degree, or just get a 3rd meaning that I would be unable to get a PGCE place and not get to teach.
In 1 and a half hours, 1 exam potentially ruined my future plans.

I had three exams in my final year, two went like clockwork but I knew the third would be a pain, I'd virtually lost interest in that particular module by February, the standard of teaching on that unit was abysmal and I'd pretty much accepted I was going to fail it long before the exam. I worked out I needed 37% on the exam to pass the unit, which I got nowhere near as I didn't answer enough questions to get 37% worth of marks.

We had to stay in the exam for an hour, I'd assumed everyone else actually knew something about the module so imagine my surprise when 15:30 came and about six of us stood up and walked out, including me. I asked everyone later and the general consensus was everyone had blagged it. When my results arrived in June, I'd found they'd lowered the pass grade to something like 15%, which gave me an overall 40% for that module and just scraped a 2:1 overall (59.5% hock.

My point being, you could think it went terribly, but it's in the uni's interests to pass you as it's their figures at the end of the day. At ours, you could retake at the end of your final year but you can't actually graduate until the following year.