MATLAB for Students

MATLAB Course

Hans-Petter Halvorsen

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Microsoft Teams  

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Important!

Bring your own PC and make sure to install MATLAB on your PC before startup. It takes a long time to download and install MATLAB (especially when many do it simultaneously in the same network)!

You should also bring pen and paper, and your personal headphones.

It is also recommended that you make a printed copy of the Course Manual (Part I), in that way you can read and follow the exercises and tasks in parallel while running MATLAB on your PC without switching back and forth. The main activity will be to solve the exercises/tasks within the course manual in your own pace. The only way to learn MATLAB is to do lots of exercises!

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Deadline Part 1 soon to expire!

The Deadline for submitting the Code for Part 1 is Friday 7.9 (before midnight). This is the first step on the road to receive a valuable diploma for your efforts. See schedule for details regarding the submission.

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Important Information!

In Week 34-41 we will only use room A-190. This is a new Active Learning Classroom (ALC) containing 9 tables that have space for uptil 7 students in each of those. In that way you can sit together and collaborate when solving the exercises. This room has no computers, so make sure to bring your own.

If you want to work more privately or cannot bring your own PC, you may use A-195.

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Tip!

You may want to do all the Additional Tasks as well. Because many of the questions in the Final Test will be taken from the Additional Tasks. Part 3 (Simulink) is voluntary but very relevant for your further studies. The same goes for the voluntary Tasks in Part 2 and 3.

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Final Test (Week 41)

We will only use room A-190 for the Final Test. You need to bring your personal computer with MATLAB installed! We will use our personal computers when we take the Final Test. The Final Test will be a multiple choice test with both theoretical and practical questions (where you use MATLAB to find the answer).

Make sure that you are able to print out a web page from your preferred web browser on your PC, since the Diploma will be a web page that you need to print out and get signed from one of the instructors before you leave. Make sure it fits one A4 page and that you print it out in colors. You may also remove headers and footers, page numbers, etc. Test with this Diploma.

Introduction

The students in the Master programs at USN are from all over the world, with varying background and skills. It is important that everyone has the same basic skills when they start working with the different courses in their Master study.

Course contents: Programming and simulations with MATLAB. In this course we will use computer programming as a key method for solving mathematical problems. MATLAB for Students is a free offer for new Master students at USN campus Porsgrunn.

No regular lectures! The course is a "self-paced" course based on the course manuals and some short videos on the way. The course manuals contain lots of examples and self-paced exercises that the students should go through and solve on their own.

Campus students need to follow the guided sessions (in order to get a diploma), where you get help and guidance from the instructors (2. year students) at campus, while online students can follow the course online. All the course material are available online from this web site.

In MATLAB for Students you will learn basic MATLAB and how to use MATLAB in Mathematics, Modelling, Simulation and Control Applications. An introduction to Simulink and other Tools will also be given. MATLAB is a tool for technical computing, computation and visualization in an integrated environment. MATLAB is an abbreviation for MATrix LABoratory, so it is well suited for matrix manipulation and problem solving related to Linear Algebra, Modelling, Simulation and Control applications, etc.

 

Do you have Questions or need Help when not in Class? - In this course Microsoft Teams (click on the link in upper right corner to request access) will be used for communication, questions, guidance, assistance, etc. Very often someone else is wondering about the same as you - or perhaps someone else has experienced the same thing and found a solution for the problem? Need help outside normal office hours? Perhaps a fellow student can help you if you ask your questions here? For example, if you have installation problems, etc., a fellow student can usually respond better than the supervisor can (outside scheduled hours, evenings, weekends, etc.). You also learn a lot from helping each other.

 

MATLAB Installation and use: You need to install MATLAB on your personal computer. Students and staff at University of South-Eastern Norway can freely install the MATLAB software on their own computers, since the university has a Total Academic Headcount (TAH) License. Installing MATLAB. Make sure to install MATLAB on your PC before startup.

If you have not been able to install MATLAB on your personal computer yet, use MATLAB Online, which you can use inside your Web Browser without any installation.


The Video below gives an introduction to this course:

MATLAB for Students + PowerPoint

This is a "self-paced" course based on the Course Manuals and some short Videos (see below) on the way. The course manuals contain lots of Examples and self-paced Exercises that the users will go through and solve on their own.

The course is based on Problem-based Learning (PBL) principles. We also take it one step further by using Programming-based Learning. You follow videos, examples and doing practical exercises in your own pace. Student assistants will be available for guidance and help in the classroom. So make sure to use this golden opportunity to take advantage of their knowledge. You may also work together with other students for collaboration and sharing knowledge.

Flipped Classroom: You need to watch the Introduction/How-To Videos (see below) and read the Tutorials with Examples at Home, and then come to Class to do the Exercises/Tasks inside the Tutorials in Class where you can get help and guidance from the Instructors - and discuss solutions with other students.

 

Background

This is a voluntary course and you get no grades or credits in this course, but MATLAB is used in many of the other courses at the University of South-Eastern Norway.

What is the purpose with this voluntary Training?

  1. To give a Practical Introduction to basic Programming and Simulation.
  2. Learn to apply basic Math and Physics knowledge (theory learned at Bachelor level) required in these Master programs. You've probably forgotten most, so a refresher is in order, and that there is focus on practical implementation (compared to more traditional courses in these topics, which is mainly pen and paper exercises).
  3. To learn to use the MATLAB software within these Applications. When you have learned MATLAB, you may easily switch to similar programs.
  4. This MATLAB course will be a foundation for many of the courses in your Master program. Even if you will not use MATLAB directly in a specific course, you will still need to use the mindset and techniques learned in this course. In your Master study there are also many projects, in an those courses you typically can choose topics and tools you want to use by yourself. MATLAB will be a good tool in these cases.
  5. The students in the Master programs at USN are from all over the world, so it is important that everyone have the same basic skills when they start working with the different courses in their Master degree. Some of the students are inexperienced in programming and many have only been learning it from the blackboard only - with no practical implementations and experimentation.
  6. MATLAB is very easy to learn and use compared to similar tools, so it is a good tool to start with for inexperienced users. At the same time it is very powerful and it can be used for advanced simulations as well, so you will never grow away from it - neither in school or work context.
  7. The MATLAB course is also suitable for those who want to brush up on their math skills. In the exercises you will need to use most of your math skills that you learned as an undergraduate, and this knowledge is expected that you know in the various courses in your upcoming Master degree.
  8. Programming-based learning: Use of programming to solve practical problems will be more ane more integrated in every course at the university and in real-life. Tomorrow's challenges cannot be solved by pen and paper.

Teaching, supervision and guidance will be provided by those who knows best where the shoe pinches - namely students at higher levels.

 

MATLAB Software

You need to install MATLAB on your personal computer. Students and staff at University of South-Eastern Norway can freely install the MATLAB software on their own computers, since the university has a Total Academic Headcount (TAH) License.

Installing MATLAB

Need a new PC? - Here are some PC Guidelines and Recommendations.

 

Course Schedule

Rooms: See TimeEdit - You need to bring your own PC where you have installed the MATLAB software!

Course Registration (first time only) Make sure to use your Full Name (First Name and Last Name) with correct upper/lower casing, since this is the Name that will be presented on the Diploma. Under "Additional Information" enter either IIA, PT, EET or EPE.

Make sure to register your Attendance in each session in class. Note! Make sure to use the same E-mail address every time!

Week # Date and Time Tasks Submission
33

1
2
3

Wednesday (16.8) 09:15-11:00
Thursday (17.8) 09:15-11:00
Friday (18.8) 09:15-13:00

Part 1: Introduction to MATLAB
 
34 4 Friday (25.8) 08:15-10:00 cont. part 1  
35   Friday (1.9) "Safety Day" No MATLAB Course this day!  
         
36 5 Friday (8.9) 08:15-10:00 Part 2: Modelling, Simulation and Control  
37 6 Friday (15.9) 08:15-10:00 cont. part 2 Code Part 1
38 7 Friday (22.9) 08:15-10:00 cont. part 2  
39 8 Friday (29.09) 08:15-10:00 cont. part 2  
         
40 9 Friday (6.10) 08:15-10:00 Part 3: Simulink and Advanced Topics  
41 10 Friday (13.10) 08:15-10:00 cont. part 3 Code Part 2
42   Friday (20.10) 08:30-10:00 Final Test and Diploma Code Part 3

 

Final Test and Diploma

Diploma: This is a voluntary course and you get no grades or credits in this course. As an extra service with no additional charge, I will provide you a Diploma. If you are absent more than 3 times (out of 10), you will not get a diploma! This means you can choose to follow the course outside campus, but you will then not get a diploma. Being a student is a full-time job, so it is expected that you are at the university campus during ordinary work hours (Monday-Friday ~8-16). In addition to the compulsory attendance you also need to take a Final Test in order to get the Diploma.

Final Test: You can use the MATLAB software during the test, no other aids allowed. You may use your own computer during the test. We use the same rooms, When? - see the Course Schedule above.

 

Attendance

Important: The official e-mail address for students at USN is studentnumber@usn.no (where you need to replace <studentnumber> with your personal 6 digit number). It is recommended that you use this address, but other private e-mail adresses can also be used, but you need to use the same E-mail address every time (both for the registration and the attendance), since the E-mail address is your unique User Name.

Attend for Today's Session. You need to register your attendance each time in class. The attendance registration can only be done in class between the start time and the end time as shown on the schedule above. A new Attendance Key will be given in class during each session. Make sure to use your Full Name (First Name and Last Name) with correct upper/lower casing, since this is the Name that will be presented on the Diploma.

Before you attend for a Session, you must have registered for the course (first time only!). You also need to use the same E-mail address every time, since the E-mail address is your unique User Name.

You can check your attendance here (Note! You may need to reopen this link after you have logged in in order to refresh the web page). You are personally responsible for checking that the attendance has been correctly registered in the system after each session. If problems occur, ask one of the instructors right away.

 

Course Instructors

The following are instructors in this MATLAB course (click on the names to send e-mail):

Hans-Petter Halvorsen (Course Instructor and Course Coordinator)

Need Help or Guidance when not in Class? - Use Microsoft Teams.

 

Submission/Hand-in

Since you get no grades or credits in this small MATLAB course, I provide, as an extra service with no additional charge, a Diploma. You will get this valuable diploma (handy when applying for jobs, etc.) only if you pass the following criteria:

  1. You need to submit code from part I, II (and III) (Submission: Use the Hand-in folder in the Fronter room and submit one single .zip (NOT .RAR!!) file including all the .m files for the required chapters) - Filename: studentno_partX.zip (where X is I, II or III)
  2. You need to show up in class (most of the times) (recorded attendance!). If you are absent more than 3 times, you will not get a diploma!
  3. You need to pass a final test (a multiple-choice test with questions). You will use the computer for the test.

Part III is for "intermediate" users and you will be able to get a diploma even if you haven’t submitted code for part III. Note! It will be written on the diploma which parts that are successfully completed and approved.

 

Each Task should be saved as one or more .m files (depending on the Task). You should store all the .m files for each Part in a separate folder. When you are finished with a part, just Zip (right-click on the Folder and select Send to->Compressed (zipped) folder) the folder and upload the the Zipped file. The Filename for the .Zip File should be: "studentno_partX.zip" (where X is 1, 2 or 3).

Note! Dont use the .RAR compression format, only ZIP format - because ZIP is built into Windows/macOS, while RAR is not. Those who do not fulfill the conditions (filename and file format), will be deleted. You must then upload again within the deadline.

You don't need to submit solutions for Task 1-5 in Part one, because you have not learned to create .m files yet and you should only use the Command Window for these Tasks. In general, you only need to submit the m-files (functions and scripts) you create - not the stuff you write in the Command Window!