MATLAB: Functions and Recursion

Name: MATLAB: Functions and Recursion
Author: Gabriel Popoola

Make your coding practices cleaner and more efficient

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Course: On-Demand

Welcome to the lesson on basic functions in MATLAB. During this lesson, we'll define functions, and we'll create our own function, in which we'll declare the function name, inputs and outputs, and then lastly, we'll call the function, in order to see how it works. A function is a group of statements, that together perform a task. In MATLAB, functions are defined in separate files. The name of the file, and of the function, should be the same. Functions operate on variables within their own workspace which is also called the local workspace, separate from the workspace you access at the MATLAB command prompt,, which is called the base workspace. So now we're gonna go ahead and create a new function. And to do that, we're going go to our toolbar here. We're gonna click new, scroll down to function, Click it, and then an editor will open up. And just like with new classes in MATLAB, once you open the editor, it'll have a skeleton or the framework that you need in order to properly complete the file. And so, the name of this function is just going to be called get stats. And it's going to take in one input argument, which we're gonna call data, and the outputs, and we'll call these stat zero, stat one, and stat two. And these are gonna represent mean, median, and mode. The reason why we're not calling it that, is simply because those are built in functions, and syntax in MATLAB, and I don't want you to overwrite anything, or mess anything up. And so we're just gonna use stat zero one and two, as the placeholders. And here, we're going to define our outputs, or set our outputs equal to the appropriate functions. And so stat zero is going to be equal to the mean of data. That one is going to be equal to the median of data. And lastly, stat two is going to be equal to the mode of data. And now that this is done, we're simply going to save it. And once again, the name of the function has to match the name of the file. And so we click save. And as you can see here, in the current folder workspace, you have this get stats.m. And you can see this little FX, which means that it's a function file. So now we can go ahead and close this. And the next thing we're gonna do is create an array. So data equals, and we're gonna just put in some integers. And just wanna make sure some of them repeat. And once we do that, to call our function, we simply type the name, so get stats. And we pass in our data. And as you can see here, it returns 23.8. And we don't really know what this means. The reason why this is happening, if you recall our function. So let's just open it back up. It has three outputs. But when we do this, we don't have any structure to unpack it. And so what we need to do now, we want to use the square brackets, and input just three variables. I'm just gonna use A, B, and C to keep it simple. And now I'm gonna set it equal get stats, and pass in data. And so now what happens is it gives you all the values. So once again, it returns the mean, median, and mode, in that order. So the mean is 23.8. The median is 13.5. And the mode is two. So an interesting thing here, is that when you look at the data, you can actually see that both two, and 15 show up twice. The reason why two was returned, is because it returns the first mode, after ordering the values. This concludes this lesson. Thank you.

Intermediate Provider : Gabriel Popoola 3 Lessons · 14m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

A function is a group of statements that work together to perform a task. Functions are a fundamental aspect of programming, regardless of the language. They are especially important in object-oriented programming because they help to maintain program readability while avoiding the need to write redundant code.

In MATLAB, there are different types of functions that are defined in separate files. These functions can be used under a variety of circumstances. Understanding these different types of functions as well as when and how to use them can prove to be an invaluable skill when working with MATLAB.

Make your coding practices cleaner and more efficient with this MATLAB module, in which you will learn about functions and recursion in MATLAB.You will also create and call your own function to see how it works. In addition, you will also learn about anonymous functions, and how to create and call them.

What You'll Learn

Understand the different types of functions in MATLAB and when to use them
Describe the advantages, disadvantages, and limitations of the various types of functions in MATLAB
Define recursion as it pertains to programming in MATLAB
Create and call your own function to see how it works
Create and call anonymous functions in MATLAB
Write cleaner, more efficient code using basic, anonymous, and recursive functions

Key Takeaways

A function is a group of statements that work together to perform a task, and functions are a fundamental aspect of programming regardless of the language.
Functions are especially important in object-oriented programming because they help maintain program readability while avoiding redundant code.
In MATLAB, there are different types of functions that are defined in separate files and can be used under a variety of circumstances.
Knowing the different types of functions and when and how to use them is an invaluable skill when working with MATLAB.
This module covers basic functions, anonymous functions, and recursive functions to make coding practices cleaner and more efficient.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this MATLAB module?

You will learn about functions and recursion in MATLAB, including the different types of functions and their advantages, disadvantages, and limitations. You will also create and call your own function, and learn about anonymous functions and how to create and call them.

What topics or lessons does this course cover?

The course covers Basic Functions, Anonymous Functions, and Recursive Functions.

What is recursion in this course?

One of the learning objectives is to define the meaning of recursion as it pertains to programming in MATLAB, which is covered in the Recursive Functions lesson.

What skills does this course help build?

The course builds skills in MATLAB, User Defined Functions, Function Generator, Function Module, Math Functions, and Recursion.

Why are functions important in MATLAB programming?

Functions help maintain program readability while avoiding the need to write redundant code, and understanding the different types of functions in MATLAB and when and how to use them can make your coding practices cleaner and more efficient.