# Getting around Matlab

## Overview

Teaching: 5 min
Exercises: 10 min
Questions
• How do you get set up in Matlab?

Objectives
• Understand that Matlab is a text-based programming environment.

• Learn how to set the path for toolboxes.

Before we get started with MGT, we will familiarize ourselves just a little bit in Matlab.

Matlab is a scripting language, in which you type a message in the command window and press Return. Try to type in the following lines:

1+1


One of the strengths of Matlab is to be able to work with symbols. Try this:

a=1
b=2
c=a+b


You can also try combinations of symbols and numbers:

(a+1)*(b+2)


## The semicolon

The semicolon is important in Matlab. Look at the difference between this:

a+b;


and this message:

a+b


## Plotting

One of the big strengths of Matlab is all the plotting functions. Try this example:

xlabel('x = 0:2\pi')
ylabel('Sine of x')
title('Plot of the Sine Function')


That is about what you need to know to get started with MGT.

## Escape

If you ever get stuck in Matlab, you can press Ctrl+C to interrupt the running process.

## Toolboxes

One of the strenghts of Matlab is that there are lots of toolboxes available. The MGT is one such toolbox, and it builds on some other toolboxes: matlabPyrTools, MoCap Toolbox and MIRtoolbox. For these toolboxes to work properly, we need to add them to the path of Matlab. That is a location for extra stuff that we want to add. This should typically be a folder in your home folder.

Add the files from the workshop zip-file to your Matlab path: under the “Home” section, click “set path”. Click the “Add Folder” button and choose the “source-code” folder and finally click “save”.

It is also possible to set the path via the command line in Matlab, using something like:

addpath('~/Documents/Toolboxes');


When you are done, you should be able to run the following command:

mgcheck


## Key Points

• A semicolon at the end of a line will not display the commands output.

• Toolboxes need to be added to path before they can be used.