A Guide to MATLAB for ME 160

Reviewed by Jeffrey Phillips, Associate Professor, Hanover College on 4/3/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This book is not meant to be a comprehensive guide to MATLAB. Instead, it is meant to be a guide to the basic functions of MATLAB that an undergraduate Mechanical Engineering student would need in order to complete assignments that require the use of MATLAB.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

My review of the material did not uncover any errors.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

I think this book is an excellent resource for students who need an introduction to or refresher on MATLAB. Anyone who has used MATLAB knows that is has extensive on-line help and also very good on-line training modules. This book will not replace those. I still require my first-year engineering students to complete the MATLAB "On-Ramp" training as their first step to learning how to use MATLAB, but I offer a link to this textbook as an easy to use reference once they have completed the on-ramp. I also find it a nice reference as I don't use MATLAB all the time and frequently forget some of the basics such as the format of the code you should use when asking for an input value.

Clarity rating: 5

I found the text easy to follow, however, I am not a beginner at using MATLAB, so perhaps not the ideal judge of clarity.

Consistency rating: 4

At the end of most chapters there is a Problems sections. However, not every section has a problems, and at the end of chapter 5 are not numbered as they are in other chapters.

Modularity rating: 5

I think it is ideal for going to a specific topic to get a refresher rather than having to plow through an entire book or on-line training course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The layout is quite logical with an introduction to basic MATLAB commands at the beginning followed by more details subjects such as the use of matrix algebra and graphing capabilities.

Interface rating: 5

The book is available as both a PDF and as an on-line textbook. The latter is very easy to navigate.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I found no issues.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I found no issues but am part of the social majority in the USA engineering community, so may not be the best judge of this.

Comments

I intend to list this as a supplemental textbook for any of my courses in which I have assignments that require the use of MATLAB. Since the textbook is available at no charge, I see no down side in having it as a supplement to the primary textbook.

Reviewed by Xiumin Diao, Associate Professor, Purdue University on 12/15/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This book covers the fundamentals of Matlab from background introduction to basic commands, matrix operations, script writing, graphing, and how to use functions in Matlab. It is a good tutorial for beginners.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content of the book is accurate. Commands and scripts are presented and the corresponding outputs are given.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Matlab has not changed much over the years/versions. So there is no need to update the book regularly.

Clarity rating: 5

This book is concise but clear. There are enough examples to illustrate a concept.

Consistency rating: 5

The text used in the book is consistent in terms of terminologies.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is modular with many chapters. Students can go through the book chapter by chapter, which makes it easy to read.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book is well organized. The book gradually increases the difficulty level.

Interface rating: 4

Most of the figures are not clear/legible enough. It would be great if high-quality figures were used.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The book is well-written.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way.

Comments

This a great tutorial for introducing the fundamentals of Matlab.

Reviewed by Caroline Baker, Assistant Professor, Anderson University on 2/17/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 2 see less

This book is directly related to a specific course, so it only introduces concepts that are necessary for that class. It would be minimally useful for a general MATLAB class.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

It seems pretty accurate regarding MATLAB's capabilities and the appropriate syntax.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

Updates will be difficult because of the typesetting of the MATLAB commands. In addition, some of the functionality taught (building a GUI, etc) is not particularly relevant to a more general teaching of MATLAB.

Clarity rating: 4

The images are pretty fuzzy, which makes it difficult to read the MATLAB code. In addition, more examples would really clarify some of the explanations.

Consistency rating: 5

The formatting seemed pretty consistent.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is divided into manageable chapters and sections within those chapters.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The flow and organization of the book appears fine. There are some large sections of provided code that seem like they exist without enough build up to them.

Interface rating: 4

The images from the computer program itself are really fuzzy and could be formatted better.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The grammar of the book appears fine.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book is a programming book and doesn't really touch on cultural topics.