Essential MATLAB for Scientists and Engineers

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Primer
Review: I have just finished teaching a semester course on Mathematical Programming and Modelling with MATLAB. The students each obtained a copy of the book and I worked through the book with them. The book has very good exercises but I augmented these and, more or less, sat back and watched the students teach themselves in front of the computers. Some of the students had no programming experience at all. This text allows for that situation and gives good advice to the novice. All the students passed the exams, some with 100%. I have the exams as TEX files, if anyone is interested to see what the students can learn in thirteen weeks with the aid of this book. The book is slightly dated now and a few of the MATLAB functions, such as SETSTR, have become obsolete. Of course, this is not a problem and I recommend this book to both students and lecturers.

Rating:
Summary: ChemE Undergrad view
Review: This book isn't bad, but it does leave a lot to be desired. I was hoping for a comprehensive desk reference on commands, syntax, and maybe even suggestions on strong and concise code for frequently used and frequently problemmatic routines (ie, iterations and for if elseif until stuff). If you are also looking for this, DON"T GET THIS BOOK. If you have some limited programming knowledge and just want to get an overview of Matlab so you can play with it, this would be a fine book. It's written so that it is meant to be used hand in hand with the often inscrutable matlab help files. But if you need a more authoritative source for lengthier and more difficult programs, look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: ChemE Undergrad view
Review: This book isn't bad, but it does leave a lot to be desired. I was hoping for a comprehensive desk reference on commands, syntax, and maybe even suggestions on strong and concise code for frequently used and frequently problemmatic routines (ie, iterations and for if elseif until stuff). If you are also looking for this, DON"T GET THIS BOOK. If you have some limited programming knowledge and just want to get an overview of Matlab so you can play with it, this would be a fine book. It's written so that it is meant to be used hand in hand with the often inscrutable matlab help files. But if you need a more authoritative source for lengthier and more difficult programs, look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, one of the better introductions
Review: This is a very helpful introduction to Matlab, which can be used by complete beginners and also more experienced users. I think this is one of the better if not the best of the current batch of introductory Matlab books.
In addition to the usual material there are good simple discussions of logical vectors, GUI's, vectorizing code, simulation and numerical integration/differential equations- enough to give you a sensible start.