Tips & Tricks
Verfolgen



This stems purely from some play on my part. Suppose I asked you to work with the sequence formed as 2*n*F_n + 1, where F_n is the n'th Fibonacci number? Part of me would not be surprised to find there is nothing simple we could do. But, then it costs nothing to try, to see where MATLAB can take me in an explorative sense.
n = sym(0:100).';
Fn = fibonacci(n);
Sn = 2*n.*Fn + 1;
Sn(1:10) % A few elements
ans = 
For kicks, I tried asking ChatGPT. Giving it nothing more than the first 20 members of thse sequence as integers, it decided this is a Perrin sequence, and gave me a recurrence relation, but one that is in fact incorrect. Good effort from the Ai, but a fail in the end.
Is there anything I can do? Try null! (Look carefully at the array generated by Toeplitz. It is at least a pretty way to generate the matrix I needed.)
X = toeplitz(Sn,[1,zeros(1,4)]);
rank(X(5:end,:))
ans = 5
Hmm. So there is no linear combination of those columns that yields all zeros, since the resulting matrix was full rank.
X = toeplitz(Sn,[1,zeros(1,5)]);
rank(X(6:end,:))
ans = 5
But if I take it one step further, we see the above matrix is now rank deficient. What does that tell me? It says there is some simple linear combination of the columns of X(6:end,:) that always yields zero. The previous test tells me there is no shorter constant coefficient recurrence releation, using fewer terms.
null(X(6:end,:))
ans = 
Let me explain what those coefficients tell me. In fact, they yield a very nice recurrence relation for the sequence S_n, not unlike the original Fibonacci sequence it was based upon.
S(n+1) = 3*S(n) - S_(n-1) - 3*S(n-2) + S(n-3) + S(n-4)
where the first 5 members of that sequence are given as [1 3 5 13 25]. So a 6 term linear constant coefficient recurrence relation. If it reminds you of the generating relation for the Fibonacci sequence, that is good, because it should. (Remember I started the sequence at n==0, IF you decide to test it out.) We can test it out, like this:
SfunM = memoize(@(N) Sfun(N));
SfunM(25)
ans = 3751251
2*25*fibonacci(sym(25)) + 1
ans = 
3751251
And indeed, it works as expected.
function Sn = Sfun(n)
switch n
case 0
Sn = 1;
case 1
Sn = 3;
case 2
Sn = 5;
case 3
Sn = 13;
case 4
Sn = 25;
otherwise
Sn = Sfun(n-5) + Sfun(n-4) - 3*Sfun(n-3) - Sfun(n-2) +3*Sfun(n-1);
end
end
A beauty of this, is I started from nothing but a sequence of integers, derived from an expression where I had no rational expectation of finding a formula, and out drops something pretty. I might call this explorational mathematics.
The next step of course is to go in the other direction. That is, given the derived recurrence relation, if I substitute the formula for S_n in terms of the Fibonacci numbers, can I prove it is valid in general? (Yes.) After all, without some proof, it may fail for n larger than 100. (I'm not sure how much I can cram into a single discussion, so I'll stop at this point for now. If I see interest in the ideas here, I can proceed further. For example, what was I doing with that sequence in the first place? And of course, can I prove the relation is valid? Can I do so using MATLAB?)
(I'll be honest, starting from scratch, I'm not sure it would have been obvious to find that relation, so null was hugely useful here.)
Zhihao Hu
Zhihao Hu
Last activity am 4 Nov. 2024 um 14:11

Hi everyone, I wrote several fancy functions that may help your coding experience, since they are in very early developing stage, I will be thankful if anyone could try them and give some feedbacks. Currently I have following:
  • fstr: a Python f-string like expression
  • printf: an easy to use fprintf function, accepts multiple arguments with seperator, end string control.
I will bring more functions or packages like logger when I am available.
The code is open sourced at GitHub with simple examples: https://github.com/bentrainer/MMGA
Lev
Lev
Last activity am 1 Nov. 2024 um 12:44

MATLAB Comprehensive commands list:
  • clc - clears command window, workspace not affected
  • clear - clears all variables from workspace, all variable values are lost
  • diary - records into a file almost everything that appears in command window.
  • exit - exits the MATLAB session
  • who - prints all variables in the workspace
  • whos - prints all variables in current workspace, with additional information.
Ch. 2 - Basics:
  • Mathematical constants: pi, i, j, Inf, Nan, realmin, realmax
  • Precedence rules: (), ^, negation, */, +-, left-to-right
  • and, or, not, xor
  • exp - exponential
  • log - natural logarithm
  • log10 - common logarithm (base 10)
  • sqrt (square root)
  • fprintf("final amount is %f units.", amt);
  • can have: %f, %d, %i, %c, %s
  • %f - fixed-point notation
  • %e - scientific notation with lowercase e
  • disp - outputs to a command window
  • % - fieldWith.precision convChar
  • MyArray = [startValue : IncrementingValue : terminatingValue]
Linspace
linspace(xStart, xStop, numPoints)
% xStart: Starting value
% xStop: Stop value
% numPoints: Number of linear-spaced points, including xStart and xStop
% Outputs a row array with the resulting values
Logspace
logspace(powerStart, powerStop, numPoints)
% powerStart: Starting value 10^powerStart
% powerStop: Stop value 10^powerStop
% numPoints: Number of logarithmic spaced points, including 10^powerStart and 10^powerStop
% Outputs a row array with the resulting values
  • Transpose an array with []'
Element-Wise Operations
rowVecA = [1, 4, 5, 2];
rowVecB = [1, 3, 0, 4];
sumEx = rowVecA + rowVecB % Element-wise addition
diffEx = rowVecA - rowVecB % Element-wise subtraction
dotMul = rowVecA .* rowVecB % Element-wise multiplication
dotDiv = rowVecA ./ rowVecB % Element-wise division
dotPow = rowVecA .^ rowVecB % Element-wise exponentiation
  • isinf(A) - check if the array elements are infinity
  • isnan(A)
Rounding Functions
  • ceil(x) - rounds each element of x to nearest integer >= to element
  • floor(x) - rounds each element of x to nearest integer <= to element
  • fix(x) - rounds each element of x to nearest integer towards 0
  • round(x) - rounds each element of x to nearest integer. if round(x, N), rounds N digits to the right of the decimal point.
  • rem(dividend, divisor) - produces a result that is either 0 or has the same sign as the dividen.
  • mod(dividend, divisor) - produces a result that is either 0 or same result as divisor.
  • Ex: 12/2, 12 is dividend, 2 is divisor
  • sum(inputArray) - sums all entires in array
Complex Number Functions
  • abs(z) - absolute value, is magnitude of complex number (phasor form r*exp(j0)
  • angle(z) - phase angle, corresponds to 0 in r*exp(j0)
  • complex(a,b) - creates complex number z = a + jb
  • conj(z) - given complex conjugate a - jb
  • real(z) - extracts real part from z
  • imag(z) - extracts imaginary part from z
  • unwrap(z) - removes the modulus 2pi from an array of phase angles.
Statistics Functions
  • mean(xAr) - arithmetic mean calculated.
  • std(xAr) - calculated standard deviation
  • median(xAr) - calculated the median of a list of numbers
  • mode(xAr) - calculates the mode, value that appears most often
  • max(xAr)
  • min(xAr)
  • If using &&, this means that if first false, don't bother evaluating second
Random Number Functions
  • rand(numRand, 1) - creates column array
  • rand(1, numRand) - creates row array, both with numRand elements, between 0 and 1
  • randi(maxRandVal, numRan, 1) - creates a column array, with numRand elements, between 1 and maxRandValue.
  • randn(numRand, 1) - creates a column array with normally distributed values.
  • Ex: 10 * rand(1, 3) + 6
  • "10*rand(1, 3)" produces a row array with 3 random numbers between 0 and 10. Adding 6 to each element results in random values between 6 and 16.
  • randi(20, 1, 5)
  • Generates 5 (last argument) random integers between 1 (second argument) and 20 (first argument). The arguments 1 and 5 specify a 1 × 5 row array is returned.
Discrete Integer Mathematics
  • primes(maxVal) - returns prime numbers less than or equal to maxVal
  • isprime(inputNums) - returns a logical array, indicating whether each element is a prime number
  • factor(intVal) - returns the prime factors of a number
  • gcd(aVals, bVals) - largest integer that divides both a and b without a remainder
  • lcm(aVals, bVals) - smallest positive integer that is divisible by both a and b
  • factorial(intVals) - returns the factorial
  • perms(intVals) - returns all the permutations of the elements int he array intVals in a 2D array pMat.
  • randperm(maxVal)
  • nchoosek(n, k)
  • binopdf(x, n, p)
Concatenation
  • cat, vertcat, horzcat
  • Flattening an array, becomes vertical: sampleList = sampleArray ( : )
Dimensional Properties of Arrays
  • nLargest = length(inArray) - number of elements along largest dimension
  • nDim = ndims(inArray)
  • nArrElement = numel(inArray) - nuber of array elements
  • [nRow, nCol] = size(inArray) - returns the number of rows and columns on array. use (inArray, 1) if only row, (inArray, 2) if only column needed
  • aZero = zeros(m, n) - creates an m by n array with all elements 0
  • aOnes = ones(m, n) - creates an m by n array with all elements set to 1
  • aEye = eye(m, n) - creates an m by n array with main diagonal ones
  • aDiag = diag(vector) - returns square array, with diagonal the same, 0s elsewhere.
  • outFlipLR = fliplr(A) - Flips array left to right.
  • outFlipUD = flipud(A) - Flips array upside down.
  • outRot90 = rot90(A) - Rotates array by 90 degrees counter clockwise around element at index (1,1).
  • outTril = tril(A) - Returns the lower triangular part of an array.
  • outTriU = triu(A) - Returns the upper triangular part of an array.
  • arrayOut = repmat(subarrayIn, mRow, nCol), creates a large array by replicating a smaller array, with mRow x nCol tiling of copies of subarrayIn
  • reshapeOut - reshape(arrayIn, numRow, numCol) - returns array with modifid dimensions. Product must equal to arrayIn of numRow and numCol.
  • outLin = find(inputAr) - locates all nonzero elements of inputAr and returns linear indices of these elements in outLin.
  • [sortOut, sortIndices] = sort(inArray) - sorts elements in ascending order, results result in sortOut. specify 'descend' if you want descending order. sortIndices hold the sorted indices of the array elements, which are row indices of the elements of sortOut in the original array
  • [sortOut, sortIndices] = sortrows(inArray, colRef) - sorts array based on values in column colRef while keeping the rows together. Bases on first column by default.
  • isequal(inArray1, inarray2, ..., inArrayN)
  • isequaln(inArray1, inarray2, ..., inarrayn)
  • arrayChar = ischar(inArray) - ischar tests if the input is a character array.
  • arrayLogical = islogical(inArray) - islogical tests for logical array.
  • arrayNumeric = isnumeric(inArray) - isnumeric tests for numeric array.
  • arrayInteger = isinteger(inArray) - isinteger tests whether the input is integer type (Ex: uint8, uint16, ...)
  • arrayFloat = isfloat(inArray) - isfloat tests for floating-point array.
  • arrayReal= isreal(inArray) - isreal tests for real array.
  • objIsa = isa(obj,ClassName) - isa determines whether input obj is an object of specified class ClassName.
  • arrayScalar = isscalar(inArray) - isscalar tests for scalar type.
  • arrayVector = isvector(inArray) - isvector tests for a vector (a 1D row or column array).
  • arrayColumn = iscolumn(inArray) - iscolumn tests for column 1D arrays.
  • arrayMatrix = ismatrix(inArray) - ismatrix returns true for a scalar or array up to 2D, but false for an array of more than 2 dimensions.
  • arrayEmpty = isempty(inArray) - isempty tests whether inArray is empty.
  • primeArray = isprime(inArray) - isprime returns a logical array primeArray, of the same size as inArray. The value at primeArray(index) is true when inArray(index) is a prime number. Otherwise, the values are false.
  • finiteArray = isfinite(inArray) - isfinite returns a logical array finiteArray, of the same size as inArray. The value at finiteArray(index) is true when inArray(index) is finite. Otherwise, the values are false.
  • infiniteArray = isinf(inArray) - isinf returns a logical array infiniteArray, of the same size as inArray. The value at infiniteArray(index) is true when inArray(index) is infinite. Otherwise, the values are false.
  • nanArray = isnan(inArray) - isnan returns a logical array nanArray, of the same size as inArray. The value at nanArray(index) is true when inArray(index) is NaN. Otherwise, the values are false.
  • allNonzero = all(inArray) - all identifies whether all array elements are non-zero (true). Instead of testing elements along the columns, all(inArray, 2) tests along the rows. all(inArray,1) is equivalent to all(inArray).
  • anyNonzero = any(inArray) - any identifies whether any array elements are non-zero (true), and false otherwise. Instead of testing elements along the columns, any(inArray, 2) tests along the rows. any(inArray,1) is equivalent to any(inArray).
  • logicArray = ismember(inArraySet,areElementsMember) - ismember returns a logical array logicArray the same size as inArraySet. The values at logicArray(i) are true where the elements of the first array inArraySet are found in the second array areElementsMember. Otherwise, the values are false. Similar values found by ismember can be extracted with inArraySet(logicArray).
  • any(x) - Returns true if x is nonzero; otherwise, returns false.
  • isnan(x) - Returns true if x is NaN (Not-a-Number); otherwise, returns false.
  • isfinite(x) - Returns true if x is finite; otherwise, returns false. Ex: isfinite(Inf) is false, and isfinite(10) is true.
  • isinf(x) - Returns true if x is +Inf or -Inf; otherwise, returns false.
Relational Operators
a < b - a is less than b
a > b - a is greater than b
a <= b - a is less than or equal to b
a >= b - a is greater than or equal to b
a == b - a is equal to b
a ~= b - a is not equal to b
a & b, and(a, b)
a | b, or(a, b)
~a, not(a)
xor(a, b)
  • fctName = @(arglist) expression - anonymous function
  • nargin - keyword returns the number of input arguments passed to the function.
Looping
while condition
% code
end
for index = startVal:endVal
% code
end
  • continue: Skips the rest of the current loop iteration and begins the next iteration.
  • break: Exits a loop before it has finished all iterations.
switch expression
case value1
% code
case value2
% code
otherwise
% code
end
Comprehensive Overview (may repeat)
Built in functions/constants
abs(x) - absolute value
pi - 3.1415...
inf - ∞
eps - floating point accuracy 1e6 106
sum(x) - sums elements in x
cumsum(x) - Cumulative sum
prod - Product of array elements cumprod(x) cumulative product
diff - Difference of elements round/ceil/fix/floor Standard functions..
*Standard functions: sqrt, log, exp, max, min, Bessel *Factorial(x) is only precise for x < 21
Variable Generation
j:k - row vector
j:i:k - row vector incrementing by i
linspace(a,b,n) - n points linearly spaced and including a and b
NaN(a,b) - axb matrix of NaN values
ones(a,b) - axb matrix with all 1 values
zeros(a,b) - axb matrix with all 0 values
meshgrid(x,y) - 2d grid of x and y vectors
global x
Ch. 11 - Custom Functions
function [ outputArgs ] = MainFunctionName (inputArgs)
% statements go here
end
function [ outputArgs ] = LocalFunctionName (inputArgs)
% statements go here
end
  • You are allowed to have nested functions in MATLAB
Anonymous Function:
  • fctName = @(argList) expression
  • Ex: RaisedCos = @(angle) (cosd(angle))^2;
  • global variables - can be accessed from anywhere in the file
  • Persistent variables
  • persistent variable - only known to function where it was declared, maintains value between calls to function.
  • Recursion - base case, decreasing case, ending case
  • nargin - evaluates to the number of arguments the function was called with
Ch. 12 - Plotting
  • plot(xArray, yArray)
  • refer to help plot for more extensive documentation, chapter 12 only briefly covers plotting
plot - Line plot
yyaxis - Enables plotting with y-axes on both left and right sides
loglog - Line plot with logarithmic x and y axes
semilogy - Line plot with linear x and logarithmic y axes
semilogx - Line plot with logarithmic x and linear y axes
stairs - Stairstep graph
axis - sets the aspect ratio of x and y axes, ticks etc.
grid - adds a grid to the plot
gtext - allows positioning of text with the mouse
text - allows placing text at specified coordinates of the plot
xlabel labels the x-axis
ylabel labels the y-axis
title sets the graph title
figure(n) makes figure number n the current figure
hold on allows multiple plots to be superimposed on the same axes
hold off releases hold on current plot and allows a new graph to be drawn
close(n) closes figure number n
subplot(a, b, c) creates an a x b matrix of plots with c the current figure
orient specifies the orientation of a figure
Animated plot example:
for j = 1:360
pause(0.02)
plot3(x(j),y(j),z(j),'O')
axis([minx maxx miny maxy minz maxz]);
hold on;
end
Ch. 13 - Strings
stringArray = string(inputArray) - converts the input array inputArray to a string array
number = strLength(stringIn) - returns the number of characters in the input string
stringArray = strings(n, m) - returns an n-by-m array of strings with no characters,
  • doing strings(sz) returns an array of strings with no characters, where sz defines the size.
charVec1 = char(stringScalar) char(stringScalar) converts the string scalar stringScalar into a character vector charVec1.
charVec2 = char(numericArray) char(numericArray) converts the numeric array numericArray into a character vector charVec2 corresponding to the Unicode transformation format 16 (UTF-16) code.
stringOut = string1 + string2 - combines the text in both strings
stringOut = join(textSrray) - consecutive elements of array joined, placing a space character between them.
stringOut = blanks(n) - creates a string of n blank characters
stringOut = strcar(string1, string2) - horizontally concatenates strings in arrays.
sprintf(formatSpec, number) - for printing out strings
  • strExp = sprintf("%0.6e", pi)
stringArrayOur = compose(formatSpec, arrayIn) - formats data in arrayIn.
lower(string) - converts to lowercase
upper(string) - converts to uppercase
num2str(inputArray, precision) - returns a character vector with the maximum number of digits specified by precision
mat2str(inputMat, precision), converts matrix into a character vector.
numberOut = sscanf(inputText, format) - convert inputText according to format specifier
str2double(inputText)
str2num(inputChar)
strcmp(string1, string2)
strcmpi(string1, string2) - case-insensitive comparison
strncmp(str1, str2, n) - first n characters
strncmpi(str1, str2, n) - case-insensitive comparison of first n characters.
isstring(string) - logical output
isStringScalar(string) - logical output
ischar(inputVar) - logical output
iscellstr(inputVar) - logical output.
isstrprop(stringIn, categoryString) - returns a logical array of the same size as stringIn, with true at indices where elements of the stringIn belong to specified category:
iskeyword(stringIn) - returns true if string is a keyword in the matlab language
isletter(charVecIn)
isspace(charVecIn)
ischar(charVecIn)
contains(string1, testPattern) - boolean outputs if string contains a specific pattern
startsWith(string1, testPattern) - also logical output
endsWith(string1, testPattern) - also logical output
strfind(stringIn, pattern) - returns INDEX of each occurence in array
number = count(stringIn, patternSeek) - returns the number of occurences of string scalar in the string scalar stringIn.
strip(strArray) - removes all consecutive whitespace characters from begining and end of each string in Array, with side argument 'left', 'right', 'both'.
pad(stringIn) - pad with whitespace characters, can also specify where.
replace(stringIn, oldStr, newStr) - replaces all occurrences of oldStr in string array stringIn with newStr.
replaceBetween(strIn, startStr, endStr, newStr)
strrep(origStr, oldSubsr, newSubstr) - searches original string for substric, and if found, replace with new substric.
insertAfter(stringIn, startStr, newStr) - insert a new string afte the substring specified by startStr.
insertBefore(stringIn, endPos, newStr)
extractAfter(stringIn, startStr)
extractBefore(stringIn, startPos)
split(stringIn, delimiter) - divides string at whitespace characters.
splitlines(stringIn, delimiter)
Adam Danz
Adam Danz
Last activity am 30 Okt. 2024 um 22:38

It's frustrating when a long function or script runs and prints unexpected outputs to the command window. The line producing those outputs can be difficult to find.
Starting in R2024b, use dbstop to find the line with unsuppressed outputs!
Run this line of code before running the script or function. Execution will pause when the line is hit and the file will open to that line. Outputs that are intentionaly displayed by functions such as disp() or fprintf() will be ignored.
dbstop if unsuppressed output
To turn this off,
dbclear if unsuppressed output
Bruno Luong
Bruno Luong
Last activity am 28 Okt. 2024 um 17:31

Time to time I need to filll an existing array with NaNs using logical indexing. A trick I discover is using arithmetics rather than filling. It is quite faster in some circumtances
A=rand(10000);
b=A>0.5;
tic; A(b) = NaN; toc
Elapsed time is 0.737291 seconds.
tic; A = A + 0./~b; toc;
Elapsed time is 0.027666 seconds.
If you know trick for other value filling feel free to post.
Chuang Tao
Chuang Tao
Last activity am 12 Okt. 2024

function drawframe(f)
% Create a figure
figure;
hold on;
axis equal;
axis off;
% Draw the roads
rectangle('Position', [0, 0, 2, 30], 'FaceColor', [0.5 0.5 0.5]); % Left road
rectangle('Position', [2, 0, 2, 30], 'FaceColor', [0.5 0.5 0.5]); % Right road
% Draw the traffic light
trafficLightPole = rectangle('Position', [-1, 20, 1, 0.2], 'FaceColor', 'black'); % Pole
redLight = rectangle('Position', [0, 20, 0.5, 1], 'FaceColor', 'red'); % Red light
yellowLight = rectangle('Position', [0.5, 20, 0.5, 1], 'FaceColor', 'black'); % Yellow light
greenLight = rectangle('Position', [1, 20, 0.5, 1], 'FaceColor', 'black'); % Green light
carBody = rectangle('Position', [2.5, 2, 1, 4], 'Curvature', 0.2, 'FaceColor', 'red'); % Body
leftWheel = rectangle('Position', [2.5, 3.0, 0.2, 0.2], 'Curvature', [1, 1], 'FaceColor', 'black'); % Left wheel
rightWheel = rectangle('Position', [3.3, 3.0, 0.2, 0.2], 'Curvature', [1, 1], 'FaceColor', 'black'); % Right wheel
leftFrontWheel = rectangle('Position', [2.5, 5.0, 0.2, 0.2], 'Curvature', [1, 1], 'FaceColor', 'black'); % Left wheel
rightFrontWheel = rectangle('Position', [3.3, 5.0, 0.2, 0.2], 'Curvature', [1, 1], 'FaceColor', 'black'); % Right wheel
% Set limits
xlim([-1, 8]);
ylim([-1, 35]);
% Animation parameters
carSpeed = 0.5; % Speed of the car
carPosition = 2; % Initial car position
stopPosition = 15; % Position to stop at the traffic light
isStopped = false; % Car is not stopped initially
%Animation loop
for t = 1:100
% Update traffic light: Red for 40 frames, yellow for 10 frames Green for 40 frames
if t <= 40
% Red light on, yellow and green off
set(redLight, 'FaceColor', 'red');
set(yellowLight, 'FaceColor', 'black');
set(greenLight, 'FaceColor', 'black');
elseif t > 40 && t <= 50
% Change to green light
set(redLight, 'FaceColor', 'black');
set(yellowLight, 'FaceColor', 'yellow');
set(greenLight, 'FaceColor', 'black');
else
% Back to red light
set(redLight, 'FaceColor', 'black');
set(yellowLight, 'FaceColor', 'black');
set(greenLight, 'FaceColor', 'green');
isStopped = false; % Allow car to move
end
%Move the car
if ~isStopped
carPosition = carPosition + carSpeed; % Move forward
if carPosition < stopPosition
%do nothing
else
isStopped = true;
end
else
% Gradually stop the car when red
if carPosition > stopPosition
carPosition = carPosition + carSpeed*(1-t/50); % Move backward until it reaches the stop position
end
end
if carPosition >= 25
carPosition = 25;
end
% Update car position
% set(carBody, 'Position', [carPosition, 2, 1, 0.5]);
set(carBody, 'Position', [2.5, carPosition, 1, 4]);
%set(carWindow, 'Position', [carPosition + 0.2, 2.4, 0.6, 0.2]);
%set(leftWheel, 'Position', [carPosition, 1.5, 0.2, 0.2]);
set(leftWheel, 'Position', [2.5, carPosition+1, 0.2, 0.2]);
% set(rightWheel, 'Position', [carPosition + 0.8, 1.5, 0.2, 0.2]);
set(rightWheel, 'Position', [3.3, carPosition+1, 0.2, 0.2]);
set(leftFrontWheel, 'Position', [2.5, carPosition+3, 0.2, 0.2]);
set(rightFrontWheel, 'Position', [3.3, carPosition+3, 0.2, 0.2]);
% Pause to control animation speed
pause(0.01);
end
hold off;
In the spirit of warming up for this year's minihack contest, I'm uploading a walkthrough for how to design an airship using pure Matlab script. This is commented and uncondensed; half of the challenge for the minihacks is how minimize characters. But, maybe it will give people some ideas.
The actual airship design is from one of my favorite original NES games that I played when I was a kid - Little Nemo: The Dream Master. The design comes from the intro of the game when Nemo sees the Slumberland airship leave for Slumberland:
(Snip from a frame of the opening scene in Capcom's game Little Nemo: The Dream Master, showing the Slumberland airship).
I spent hours playing this game with my two sisters, when we were little. It's fun and tough, but the graphics sparked the imagination. On to the code walkthrough, beginning with the color palette: these four colors are the only colors used for the airship:
c1=cat(3,1,.7,.4); % Cream color
c2=cat(3,.7,.1,.3); % Magenta
c3=cat(3,0.7,.5,.1); % Gold
c4=cat(3,.5,.3,0); % bronze
We start with the airship carriage body. We want something rectangular but smoothed on the corners. To do this we are going to start with the separate derivatives of the x and y components, which can be expressed using separate blocks of only three levels: [1, 0, -1]. You could integrate to create a rectangle, but if we smooth the derivatives prior to integrating we will get rounded edges. This is done in the following code:
% Binary components for x & y vectors
z=zeros(1,30);
o=ones(1,100);
% X and y vectors
x=[z,o,z,-o];
y=[1+z,1-o,z-1,1-o];
% Smoother function (fourier / circular)
s=@(x)ifft(fft(x).*conj(fft(hann(45)'/22,260)));
% Integrator function with replication and smoothing to form mesh matrices
u=@(x)repmat(cumsum(s(x)),[30,1]);
% Construct x and y components of carriage with offsets
x3=u(x)-49.35;
y3=u(y)+6.35;
y3 = y3*1.25; % Make it a little fatter
% Add a z-component to make the full set of matrices for creating a 3D
% surface:
z3=linspace(0,1,30)'.*ones(1,260)*30;
z3(14,:)=z3(15,:); % These two lines are for adding platforms
z3(2,:)=z3(3,:); % to the carriage, later.
Plotting x, y, and the top row of the smoothed, integrated, and replicated matrices x3 and y3 gives the following:
We now have the x and y components for a 3D mesh of the carriage, let's make it more interesting by adding a color scheme including doors, and texture for the trim around the doors. Let's also add platforms beneath the doors for passengers to walk on.
Starting with the color values, let's make doors by convolving points in a color-matrix by a door shaped function.
m=0*z3; % Image matrix that will be overlayed on carriage surface
m(7,10:12:end)=1; % Door locations (lower deck)
m(21,10:12:end)=1; % Door locations (upper deck)
drs = ones(9, 5); % Door shape
m=1-conv2(m,ones(9,5),'same'); % Applying
To add the trim, we will convolve matrix "m" (the color matrix) with a square function, and look for values that lie between the extrema. We will use this to create a displacement function that bumps out the -x, and -y values of the carriage surface in intermediary polar coordinate format.
rm=conv2(m,ones(5)/25,'same'); % Smoothing the door function
rm(~m)=0; % Preserving only the region around the doors
rds=0*m; % Radial displacement function
rds(rm<1&rm>0)=1; % Preserving region around doors
rds(m==0)=0;
rds(13:14,:)=6; % Adding walkways
rds(1:2,:)=6;
% Apply radial displacement function
[th,rd]=cart2pol(x3,y3);
[x3T,y3T]=pol2cart(th,(rd+rds)*.89);
If we plot the color function (m) and radial displacement function (rds) we get the following:
In the upper plot you can see the doors, and in the bottom map you can see the walk way and door trim.
Next, we are going to add some flags draped from the bottom and top of the carriage. We are going to recycle the values in "z3" to do this, by multiplying that matrix with the absolute value of a sine-wave, squished a bit with the soft-clip erf() function.
We add a keel to the airship carriage using a canonical sphere turned on its side, again using the soft-clip erf() function to make it roughly rectangular in x and y, and multiplying with a vector that is half nan's to make the top half transparent.
At this point, since we are beginning the plotting of the ship, we also need to create our hgtransform objects. These allow us to move all of the components of the airship in unison, and also link objects with pivot points to the airship, such as the propeller.
% Now we need some flags extending around the top and bottom of the
% carriage. We can do this my multiplying the height function (z3) with the
% absolute value of a sine-wave, rounded with a compression function
% (erf() in this case);
g=-z3.*erf(abs(sin(linspace(0,40*pi,260))))/4; % Flags
% Also going to add a slight taper to the carriage... gives it a nice look
tp=linspace(1.05,1,30)';
% Finally, plotting. Plot the carriage with the color-map for the doors in
% the cream color, than the flags in magenta. Attach them both to transform
% objects for movement.
% Set up transform objects. 2 moving parts:
% 1) The airship itself and all sub-components
% 2) The propellor, which attaches to the airship and spins on its axis.
hold on;
P=hgtransform('Parent',gca); % Ship
S=hgtransform('Parent',P); % Prop
surf(x3T.*tp,y3T,z3,c1.*m,'Parent',P);
surf(x3,y3,g,c2.*rd./rd, 'Parent', P);
surf(x3,y3,g+31,c2.*rd./rd, 'Parent', P);
axis equal
% Now add the keel of the airship. Will use a canonical sphere and the
% erf() compression function to square off.
[x,y,z]=sphere(99);
mk=round(linspace(-1,1).^2+.3); % This function makes the top half of the sphere nan's for transparency.
surf(50*erf(1.4*z),15*erf(1.4*y),13*x.*mk./mk-1,.5*c2.*z./z, 'Parent', P);
% The carriage is done. Now we can make the blimp above it.
We haven't adjusted the shading of the image yet, but you can see the design features that have been created:
Next, we start working on the blimp. This is going to use a few more vertices & faces. We are going to use a tapered cylinder for this part, and will start by making the overlaid image, which will have 2 colors plus radial rings, circles, and squiggles for ornamentation.
M=525; % Blimp (matrix dimensions)
N=700;
% Assign the blimp the cream and magenta colors
t=122; % Transition point
b=ones(M,N,3); % Blimp color map template
bc=b.*c1; % Blimp color map
bc(:,t+1:end-t,:)=b(:,t+1:end-t,:).*c2;
% Add axial rings around blimp
l=[.17,.3,.31,.49];
l=round([l,1-fliplr(l)]*N); % Mirroring
lnw=ones(1,N); % Mask
lnw(l)=0;
lnw=rescale(conv(lnw,hann(7)','same'));
bc=bc.*lnw;
% Now add squiggles. We're going to do this by making an even function in
% the x-dimension (N, 725) added with a sinusoidal oscillation in the
% y-dimension (M, 500), then thresholding.
r=sin(linspace(0, 2*pi, M)*10)'+(linspace(-1, 1, N).^6-.18)*15;
q=abs(r)>.15;
r=sin(linspace(0, 2*pi, M)*12)'+(abs(linspace(-1, 1, N))-.25)*15;
q=q.*(abs(r)>.15);
% Now add the circles on the blimp. These will be spaced evenly in the
% polar angle dimension around the axis. We will have 9. To make the
% circles, we will create a cone function with a peak at the center of the
% circle, and use thresholding to create a ring of appropriate radius.
hs=[1,.75,.5,.25,0,-.25,-.5,-.75,-1]; % Axial spacing of rings
% Cone generation and ring loop
xy= @(h,s)meshgrid(linspace(-1, 1, N)+s*.53,(linspace(-1, 1, M)+h)*1.15);
w=@(x,y)sqrt(x.^2+y.^2);
for n=1:9
h=hs(n);
[xx,yy]=xy(h,-1);
r1=w(xx,yy);
[xx,yy]=xy(h,1);
r2=w(xx,yy);
b=@(x,y)abs(y-x)>.005;
q=q.*b(.1,r1).*b(.075,r1).*b(.1,r2).*b(.075,r2);
end
The figures below show the color scheme and mask used to apply the squiggles and circles generated in the code above:
Finally, for the colormap we are going to smooth the binary mask to avoid hard transitions, and use it to to add a "puffy" texture to the blimp shape. This will be done by diffusing the mask iteratively in a loop with a non-linear min() operator.
% 2D convolution function
ff=@(x)circshift(ifft2(fft2(x).*conj(fft2(hann(7)*hann(7)'/9,M,N))),[3,3]);
q=ff(q); % Smooth our mask function
hh=rgb2hsv(q.*bc); % Convert to hsv: we are going to use the value
% component for radial displacement offsets of the
% 3D blimp structure.
rd=hh(:,:,3); % Value component
for n=1:10
rd=min(rd,ff(rd)); % Diffusing the value component for a puffy look
end
rd=(rd+35)/36; % Make displacements effects small
% Now make 3D blimp manifold using "cylinder" canonical shape
[x,y,z]=cylinder(erf(sin(linspace(0,pi,N)).^.5)/4,M-1); % First argument is the blimp taper
[t,r]=cart2pol(x, y);
[x2,y2]=pol2cart(t, r.*rd'); % Applying radial displacment from mask
s=200;
% Plotting the blimp
surf(z'*s-s/2, y2'*s, x2'*s+s/3.9+15, q.*bc,'Parent',P);
Notice that the parent of the blimp surface plot is the same as the carriage (e.g. hgtransform object "P"). Plotting at this point using flat shading and adding some lighting gives the image below:
Next, we need to add a propeller so it can move. This will include the creation of a shaft using the cylinder() function. The rest of the pieces (the propeller blades, collars and shaft tip) all use the same canonical sphere with distortions applied using various math functions. Note that when the propeller is made it is linked to hgtransform object "S" rather than "P." This will allow the propeller to rotate, but still be joined to the airship.
% Next, the propeller. First, we start with the shaft. This is a simple
% cylinder. We add an offset variable and a scale variable to move our
% propeller components around, as well.
shx = -70; % This is our x-shifter for components
scl = 3; % Component size scaler
[x,y,z]=cylinder(1, 20); % Canonical cylinder for prop shaft.
p(1)=surf(-scl*(z-1)*7+shx,scl*x/2,scl*y/2,0*x+c4,'Parent',P); % Prop shaft
% Now the propeller. This is going to be made from a distorted sphere.
% The important thing here is that it is linked to the "S" hgtransform
% object, which will allow it to rotate.
[x,y,z]=sphere(50);
a=(-1:.04:1)';
x2=(x.*cos(a)-y/3.*sin(a)).*(abs(sin(a*2))*2+.1);
y2=(x.*sin(a)+y/3.*cos(a));
p(2)=surf(-scl*y2+shx,scl*x2,scl*z*6,0*x+c3,'Parent',S);
% Now for the prop-collars. You can see these on the shaft in the NES
% animation. These will just be made by using the canonical sphere and the
% erf() activation function to square it in the x-dimension.
g=erf(z*3)/3;
r=@(g)surf(-scl*g+shx,scl*x,scl*y,0*x+c3,'Parent',P);
r(g);
r(g-2.8);
r(g-3.7);
% Finally, the prop shaft tip. This will just be the sphere with a
% taper-function applied radially.
t=1.7*cos(0:.026:1.3)'.^2;
p(3)=surf(-(z*2+2)*scl + shx,x.*t*scl,y.*t*scl, 0*x+c4,'Parent',P);
Now for some final details including the ropes to the blimp, a flag hung on one of the ropes, and railings around the walkways so that passengers don't plummet to their doom. This will make use of the ad-hoc "ropeG" function, which takes a 3D vector of points and makes a conforming cylinder around it, so that you get lighting functions etc. that don't work on simple lines. This function is added to the script at the end to do this:
% Rope function for making a 3D curve have thickness, like a rope.
% Inputs:
% - xyz (3D curve vector, M points in 3 x M format)
% - N (Number of radial points in cylinder function around the curve
% - W (Width of the rope)
%
% Outputs:
% - xf, yf, zf (Matrices that can be used with surf())
function [xf, yf, zf] = RopeG(xyz, N, W)
% Canonical cylinder with N points in circumference
[xt,yt,zt] = cylinder(1, N);
% Extract just the first ring and make (W) wide
xyzt = [xt(1, :); yt(1, :); zt(1, :)]*W;
% Get local orientation vector between adjacent points in rope
dxyz = xyz(:, 2:end) - xyz(:, 1:end-1);
dxyz(:, end+1) = dxyz(:, end);
vcs = dxyz./vecnorm(dxyz);
% We need to orient circle so that its plane normal is parallel to
% xyzt. This is a kludgey way to do that.
vcs2 = [ones(2, size(vcs, 2)); -(vcs(1, :) + vcs(2, :))./(vcs(3, :)+0.01)];
vcs2 = vcs2./vecnorm(vcs2);
vcs3 = cross(vcs, vcs2);
p = @(x)permute(x, [1, 3, 2]);
rmats = [p(vcs3), p(vcs2), p(vcs)];
% Create surface
xyzF = pagemtimes(rmats, xyzt) + permute(xyz, [1, 3, 2]);
% Outputs for surf format
xf = squeeze(xyzF(1, :, :));
yf = squeeze(xyzF(2, :, :));
zf = squeeze(xyzF(3, :, :));
end
Using this function we can define the ropes and balconies. Note that the balconies simply recycle one of the rows of the original carriage surface, defining the outer rim of the walkway, but bumping up in the z-dimension.
cb=-sqrt(1-linspace(1, 0, 100).^2)';
c1v=[linspace(-67, -51)', 0*ones(100,1),cb*30+35];
c2v=[c1v(:,1),c1v(:,2),(linspace(1,0).^1.5-1)'*15+33];
c3v=c2v.*[-1,1,1];
[xr,yr,zr]=RopeG(c1v', 10, .5);
surf(xr,yr,zr,0*xr+c2,'Parent',P);
[xr,yr,zr]=RopeG(c2v', 10, .5);
surf(xr,yr,zr,0*zr+c2,'Parent',P);
[xr,yr,zr]=RopeG(c3v', 10, .5);
surf(xr,yr,zr,0*zr+c2,'Parent',P);
% Finally, balconies would add a nice touch to the carriage keep people
% from falling to their death at 10,000 feet.
[rx,ry,rz]=RopeG([x3T(14, :); y3T(14,:); 0*x3T(14,:)+18]*1.01, 10, 1);
surf(rx,ry,rz,0*rz+cat(3,0.7,.5,.1),'Parent',P);
surf(rx,ry,rz-13,0*rz+cat(3,0.7,.5,.1),'Parent',P);
And, very last, we are going to add a flag attached to the outer cable. Let's make it flap in the wind. To make it we will recycle the z3 matrix again, but taper it based on its x-value. Then we will sinusoidally oscillate the flag in the y dimension as a function of x, constraining the y-position to be zero where it meets the cable. Lastly, we will displace it quadratically in the x-dimension as a function of z so that it lines up nicely with the rope. The phase of the sine-function is modified in the animation loop to give it a flapping motion.
h=linspace(0,1);
sc=10;
[fx,fz]=meshgrid(h,h-.5);
F=surf(sc*2.5*fx-90-2*(fz+.5).^2,sc*.3*erf(3*(1-h)).*sin(10*fx+n/5),sc*fz.*h+25,0*fx+c3,'Parent',P);
Plotting just the cables and flag shows:
Putting all the pieces together reveals the full airship:
A note about lighting: lighting and material properties really change the feel of the image you create. The above picture is rendered in a cartoony style by setting the specular exponent to a very low value (1), and adding lots of diffuse and ambient reflectivity as well. A light below the airship was also added, albeit with lower strength. Settings used for this plot were:
shading flat
view([0, 0]);
L=light;
L.Color = [1,1,1]/4;
light('position', [0, 0.5, 1], 'color', [1,1,1]);
light('position', [0, 1, -1], 'color', [1, 1, 1]/5);
material([1, 1, .7, 1])
set(gcf, 'color', 'k');
axis equal off
What about all the rest of the stuff (clouds, moon, atmospheric haze etc.) These were all (mostly) recycled bits from previous minihack entries. The clouds were made using power-law noise as explained in Adam Danz' blog post. The moon was borrowed from moonrun, but with an increased number of points. Atmospheric haze was recycled from Matlon5. The rest is just camera angles, hgtransform matrix updates, and updating alpha-maps or vertex coordinates.
Finally, the use of hann() adds the signal processing toolbox as a dependency. To avoid this use the following anonymous function:
hann = @(x)-cospi(linspace(0,2,x)')/2+.5;
Create a struct arrays where each struct has field names "a," "b," and "c," which store different types of data. What efficient methods do you have to assign values from individual variables "a," "b," and "c" to each struct element? Here are five methods I've provided, listed in order of decreasing efficiency. What do you think?
Create an array of 10,000 structures, each containing each of the elements corresponding to the a,b,c variables.
num = 10000;
a = (1:num)';
b = string(a);
c = rand(3,3,num);
Here are the methods;
%% method1
t1 =tic;
s = struct("a",[], ...
"b",[], ...
"c",[]);
s1 = repmat(s,num,1);
for i = 1:num
s1(i).a = a(i);
s1(i).b = b(i);
s1(i).c = c(:,:,i);
end
t1 = toc(t1);
%% method2
t2 =tic;
for i = num:-1:1
s2(i).a = a(i);
s2(i).b = b(i);
s2(i).c = c(:,:,i);
end
t2 = toc(t2);
%% method3
t3 =tic;
for i = 1:num
s3(i).a = a(i);
s3(i).b = b(i);
s3(i).c = c(:,:,i);
end
t3 = toc(t3);
%% method4
t4 =tic;
ct = permute(c,[3,2,1]);
t = table(a,b,ct);
s4 = table2struct(t);
t4 = toc(t4);
%% method5
t5 =tic;
s5 = struct("a",num2cell(a),...
"b",num2cell(b),...
"c",squeeze(mat2cell(c,3,3,ones(num,1))));
t5 = toc(t5);
%% plot
bar([t1,t2,t3,t4,t5])
xtickformat('method %g')
ylabel("time(second)")
yline(mean([t1,t2,t3,t4,t5]))
goc3
goc3
Last activity am 8 Sep. 2024

Base case:
Suppose you need to do a computation many times. We are going to assume that this computation cannot be vectorized. The simplest case is to use a for loop:
number_of_elements = 1e6;
test_fcn = @(x) sqrt(x) / x;
tic
for i = 1:number_of_elements
x(i) = test_fcn(i);
end
t_forward = toc;
disp(t_forward + " seconds")
0.10925 seconds
Preallocation:
This can easily be sped up by preallocating the variable that houses results:
tic
x = zeros(number_of_elements, 1);
for i = 1:number_of_elements
x(i) = test_fcn(i);
end
t_forward_prealloc = toc;
disp(t_forward_prealloc + " seconds")
0.035106 seconds
In this example, preallocation speeds up the loop by a factor of about three to four (running in R2024a). Comment below if you get dramatically different results.
disp(sprintf("%.1f", t_forward / t_forward_prealloc))
3.1
Run it in reverse:
Is there a way to skip the explicit preallocation and still be fast? Indeed, there is.
clear x
tic
for i = number_of_elements:-1:1
x(i) = test_fcn(i);
end
t_backward = toc;
disp(t_backward + " seconds")
0.032392 seconds
By running the loop backwards, the preallocation is implicitly performed during the first iteration and the loop runs in about the same time (within statistical noise):
disp(sprintf("%.2f", t_forward_prealloc / t_backward))
1.08
Do you get similar results when running this code? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Beneficial side effect:
Have you ever had to use a for loop to delete elements from a vector? If so, keeping track of index offsets can be tricky, as deleting any element shifts all those that come after. By running the for loop in reverse, you don't need to worry about index offsets while deleting elements.
D.R. Kaprekar was a self taught recreational mathematician, perhaps known mostly for some numbers that bear his name.
Today, I'll focus on Kaprekar's constant (as opposed to Kaprekar numbers.)
The idea is a simple one, embodied in these 5 steps.
1. Take any 4 digit integer, reduce to its decimal digits.
2. Sort the digits in decreasing order.
3. Flip the sequence of those digits, then recompose the two sets of sorted digits into 4 digit numbers. If there were any 0 digits, they will become leading zeros on the smaller number. In this case, a leading zero is acceptable to consider a number as a 4 digit integer.
4. Subtract the two numbers, smaller from the larger. The result will always have no more than 4 decimal digits. If it is less than 1000, then presume there are leading zero digits.
5. If necessary, repeat the above operation, until the result converges to a stable result, or until you see a cycle.
Since this process is deterministic, and must always result in a new 4 digit integer, it must either terminate at either an absorbing state, or in a cycle.
For example, consider the number 6174.
7641 - 1467
ans = 6174
We get 6174 directly back. That seems rather surprising to me. But even more interesting is you will find all 4 digit numbers (excluding the pure rep-digit nmbers) will always terminate at 6174, after at most a few steps. For example, if we start with 1234
4321 - 1234
ans = 3087
8730 - 0378
ans = 8352
8532 - 2358
ans = 6174
and we see that after 3 iterations of this process, we end at 6174. Similarly, if we start with 9998, it too maps to 6174 after 5 iterations.
9998 ==> 999 ==> 8991 ==> 8082 ==> 8532 ==> 6174
Why should that happen? That is, why should 6174 always drop out in the end? Clearly, since this is a deterministic proces which always produces another 4 digit integer (Assuming we treat integers with a leading zero as 4 digit integers), we must either end in some cycle, or we must end at some absorbing state. But for all (non-pure rep-digit) starting points to end at the same place, it seems just a bit surprising.
I always like to start a problem by working on a simpler problem, and see if it gives me some intuition about the process. I'll do the same thing here, but with a pair of two digit numbers. There are 100 possible two digit numbers, since we must treat all one digit numbers as having a "tens" digit of 0.
N = (0:99)';
Next, form the Kaprekar mapping for 2 digit numbers. This is easier than you may think, since we can do it in a very few lines of code on all possible inputs.
Ndig = dec2base(N,10,2) - '0';
Nmap = sort(Ndig,2,'descend')*[10;1] - sort(Ndig,2,'ascend')*[10;1];
I'll turn it into a graph, so we can visualize what happens. It also gives me an excuse to employ a very pretty set of tools in MATLAB.
G2 = graph(N+1,Nmap+1,[],cellstr(dec2base(N,10,2)));
plot(G2)
Do you see what happens? All of the rep-digit numbers, like 11, 44, 55, etc., all map directly to 0, and they stay there, since 0 also maps into 0. We can see that in the star on the lower right.
G2cycles = cyclebasis(G2)
G2cycles = 2x1 cell array
{1x1 cell} {1x5 cell}
G2cycles{1}
ans = 1x1 cell array
{'00'}
All other numbers eventually end up in the cycle:
G2cycles{2}
ans = 1x5 cell array
{'09'} {'45'} {'27'} {'63'} {'81'}
That is
81 ==> 63 ==> 27 ==> 45 ==> 09 ==> and back to 81
looping forever.
Another way of trying to visualize what happens with 2 digit numbers is to use symbolics. Thus, if we assume any 2 digit number can be written as 10*T+U, where I'll assume T>=U, since we always sort the digits first
syms T U
(10*T + U) - (10*U+T)
ans = 
So after one iteration for 2 digit numbers, the result maps ALWAYS to a new 2 digit number that is divisible by 9. And there are only 10 such 2 digit numbers that are divisible by 9. So the 2-digit case must resolve itself rather quickly.
What happens when we move to 3 digit numbers? Note that for any 3 digit number abc (without loss of generality, assume a >= b >= c) it almost looks like it reduces to the 2 digit probem, aince we have abc - cba. The middle digit will always cancel itself in the subtraction operation. Does that mean we should expect a cycle at the end, as happens with 2 digit numbers? A simple modification to our previous code will tell us the answer.
N = (0:999)';
Ndig = dec2base(N,10,3) - '0';
Nmap = sort(Ndig,2,'descend')*[100;10;1] - sort(Ndig,2,'ascend')*[100;10;1];
G3 = graph(N+1,Nmap+1,[],cellstr(dec2base(N,10,2)));
plot(G3)
This one is more difficult to visualize, since there are 1000 nodes in the graph. However, we can clearly see two disjoint groups.
We can use cyclebasis to tell us the complete story again.
G3cycles = cyclebasis(G3)
G3cycles = 2x1 cell array
{1x1 cell} {1x1 cell}
G3cycles{:}
ans = 1x1 cell array
{'000'}
ans = 1x1 cell array
{'495'}
And we see that all 3 digit numbers must either terminate at 000, or 495. For example, if we start with 181, we would see:
811 - 118
ans = 693
963 - 369
ans = 594
954 - 459
ans = 495
It will terminate there, forever trapped at 495. And cyclebasis tells us there are no other cycles besides the boring one at 000.
What is the maximum length of any such path to get to 495?
D3 = distances(G3,496) % Remember, MATLAB uses an index origin of 1
D3 = 1x1000
Inf 6 5 4 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 6 5 4 3 1 2 3 4 5 5 5 5 4 3 1 2 3 4 5
<mw-icon class=""></mw-icon>
<mw-icon class=""></mw-icon>
D3(isinf(D3)) = -inf; % some nodes can never reach 495, so they have an infinite distance
plot(D3)
The maximum number of steps to get to 495 is 6 steps.
find(D3 == 6) - 1
ans = 1x54
1 10 11 100 101 110 112 121 122 211 212 221 223 232 233 322 323 332 334 343 344 433 434 443 445 454 455 544 545 554
<mw-icon class=""></mw-icon>
<mw-icon class=""></mw-icon>
So the 3 digit number 100 required 6 iterations to eventually reach 495.
shortestpath(G3,101,496) - 1
ans = 1x7
100 99 891 792 693 594 495
<mw-icon class=""></mw-icon>
<mw-icon class=""></mw-icon>
I think I've rather exhausted the 3 digit case. It is time now to move to the 4 digit problem, but we've already done all the hard work. The same scheme will apply to compute a graph. And the graph theory tools do all the hard work for us.
N = (0:9999)';
Ndig = dec2base(N,10,4) - '0';
Nmap = sort(Ndig,2,'descend')*[1000;100;10;1] - sort(Ndig,2,'ascend')*[1000;100;10;1];
G4 = graph(N+1,Nmap+1,[],cellstr(dec2base(N,10,2)));
plot(G4)
cyclebasis(G4)
ans = 2x1 cell array
{1x1 cell} {1x1 cell}
ans{:}
ans = 1x1 cell array
{'0000'}
ans = 1x1 cell array
{'6174'}
And here we see the behavior, with one stable final point, 6174 as the only non-zero ending state. There are no circular cycles as we had for the 2-digit case.
How many iterations were necessary at most before termination?
D4 = distances(G4,6175);
D4(isinf(D4)) = -inf;
plot(D4)
The plot tells the story here. The maximum number of iterations before termination is 7 for the 4 digit case.
find(D4 == 7,1,'last') - 1
ans = 9985
shortestpath(G4,9986,6175) - 1
ans = 1x8
9985 4086 8172 7443 3996 6264 4176 6174
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Can you go further? Are there 5 or 6 digit Kaprekar constants? Sadly, I have read that for more than 4 digits, things break down a bit, there is no 5 digit (or higher) Kaprekar constant.
We can verify that fact, at least for 5 digit numbers.
N = (0:99999)';
Ndig = dec2base(N,10,5) - '0';
Nmap = sort(Ndig,2,'descend')*[10000;1000;100;10;1] - sort(Ndig,2,'ascend')*[10000;1000;100;10;1];
G5 = graph(N+1,Nmap+1,[],cellstr(dec2base(N,10,2)));
plot(G5)
cyclebasis(G5)
ans = 4x1 cell array
{1x1 cell} {1x2 cell} {1x4 cell} {1x4 cell}
ans{:}
ans = 1x1 cell array
{'00000'}
ans = 1x2 cell array
{'53955'} {'59994'}
ans = 1x4 cell array
{'61974'} {'63954'} {'75933'} {'82962'}
ans = 1x4 cell array
{'62964'} {'71973'} {'83952'} {'74943'}
The result here are 4 disjoint cycles. Of course the rep-digit cycle must always be on its own, but the other three cycles are also fully disjoint, and are of respective length 2, 4, and 4.
Following on from my previous post The Non-Chaotic Duffing Equation, now we will study the chaotic behaviour of the Duffing Equation
P.s:Any comments/advice on improving the code is welcome.
The Original Duffing Equation is the following:
Let . This implies that
Then we rewrite it as a System of First-Order Equations
Using the substitution for , the second-order equation can be transformed into the following system of first-order equations:
Exploring the Effect of γ.
% Define parameters
gamma = 0.1;
alpha = -1;
beta = 1;
delta = 0.1;
omega = 1.4;
% Define the system of equations
odeSystem = @(t, y) [y(2);
-delta*y(2) - alpha*y(1) - beta*y(1)^3 + gamma*cos(omega*t)];
% Initial conditions
y0 = [0; 0]; % x(0) = 0, v(0) = 0
% Time span
tspan = [0 200];
% Solve the system
[t, y] = ode45(odeSystem, tspan, y0);
% Plot the results
figure;
plot(t, y(:, 1));
xlabel('Time');
ylabel('x(t)');
title('Solution of the nonlinear system');
grid on;
% Plot the phase portrait
figure;
plot(y(:, 1), y(:, 2));
xlabel('x(t)');
ylabel('v(t)');
title('Phase Portrait');
grid on;
% Define the tail (e.g., last 10% of the time interval)
tail_start = floor(0.9 * length(t)); % Starting index for the tail
tail_end = length(t); % Ending index for the tail
% Plot the tail of the solution
figure;
plot(y(tail_start:tail_end, 1), y(tail_start:tail_end, 2), 'r', 'LineWidth', 1.5);
xlabel('x(t)');
ylabel('v(t)');
title('Phase Portrait - Tail of the Solution');
grid on;
% Define parameters
gamma = 0.318;
alpha = -1;
beta = 1;
delta = 0.1;
omega = 1.4;
% Define the system of equations
odeSystem = @(t, y) [y(2);
-delta*y(2) - alpha*y(1) - beta*y(1)^3 + gamma*cos(omega*t)];
% Initial conditions
y0 = [0; 0]; % x(0) = 0, v(0) = 0
% Time span
tspan = [0 800];
% Solve the system
[t, y] = ode45(odeSystem, tspan, y0);
% Plot the results
figure;
plot(t, y(:, 1));
xlabel('Time');
ylabel('x(t)');
title('Solution of the nonlinear system');
grid on;
% Plot the phase portrait
figure;
plot(y(:, 1), y(:, 2));
xlabel('x(t)');
ylabel('v(t)');
title('Phase Portrait');
grid on;
% Define the tail (e.g., last 10% of the time interval)
tail_start = floor(0.9 * length(t)); % Starting index for the tail
tail_end = length(t); % Ending index for the tail
% Plot the tail of the solution
figure;
plot(y(tail_start:tail_end, 1), y(tail_start:tail_end, 2), 'r', 'LineWidth', 1.5);
xlabel('x(t)');
ylabel('v(t)');
title('Phase Portrait - Tail of the Solution');
grid on;
% Define parameters
gamma = 0.338;
alpha = -1;
beta = 1;
delta = 0.1;
omega = 1.4;
% Define the system of equations
odeSystem = @(t, y) [y(2);
-delta*y(2) - alpha*y(1) - beta*y(1)^3 + gamma*cos(omega*t)];
% Initial conditions
y0 = [0; 0]; % x(0) = 0, v(0) = 0
% Time span with more points for better resolution
tspan = linspace(0, 200,2000); % Increase the number of points
% Solve the system
[t, y] = ode45(odeSystem, tspan, y0);
% Plot the results
figure;
plot(t, y(:, 1));
xlabel('Time');
ylabel('x(t)');
title('Solution of the nonlinear system');
grid on;
% Plot the phase portrait
figure;
plot(y(:, 1), y(:, 2));
xlabel('x(t)');
ylabel('v(t)');
title('Phase Portrait');
grid on;
% Define the tail (e.g., last 10% of the time interval)
tail_start = floor(0.9 * length(t)); % Starting index for the tail
tail_end = length(t); % Ending index for the tail
% Plot the tail of the solution
figure;
plot(y(tail_start:tail_end, 1), y(tail_start:tail_end, 2), 'r', 'LineWidth', 1.5);
xlabel('x(t)');
ylabel('v(t)');
title('Phase Portrait - Tail of the Solution');
grid on;
ax = gca;
chart = ax.Children(1);
datatip(chart,0.5581,-0.1126);
% Define parameters
gamma = 0.35;
alpha = -1;
beta = 1;
delta = 0.1;
omega = 1.4;
% Define the system of equations
odeSystem = @(t, y) [y(2);
-delta*y(2) - alpha*y(1) - beta*y(1)^3 + gamma*cos(omega*t)];
% Initial conditions
y0 = [0; 0]; % x(0) = 0, v(0) = 0
% Time span with more points for better resolution
tspan = linspace(0, 400,3000); % Increase the number of points
% Solve the system
[t, y] = ode45(odeSystem, tspan, y0);
% Plot the results
figure;
plot(t, y(:, 1));
xlabel('Time');
ylabel('x(t)');
title('Solution of the nonlinear system');
grid on;
% Plot the phase portrait
figure;
plot(y(:, 1), y(:, 2));
xlabel('x(t)');
ylabel('v(t)');
title('Phase Portrait');
grid on;
% Define the tail (e.g., last 10% of the time interval)
tail_start = floor(0.9 * length(t)); % Starting index for the tail
tail_end = length(t); % Ending index for the tail
% Plot the tail of the solution
figure;
plot(y(tail_start:tail_end, 1), y(tail_start:tail_end, 2), 'r', 'LineWidth', 1.5);
xlabel('x(t)');
ylabel('v(t)');
title('Phase Portrait - Tail of the Solution');
grid on;
Studying the attached document Duffing Equation from the University of Colorado, I noticed that there is an analysis of The Non-Chaotic Duffing Equation and all the graphs were created with Matlab. And since the code is not given I took the initiative to try to create the same graphs with the following code.
  • Plotting the Potential Energy and Identifying Extrema
% Define the range of x values
x = linspace(-2, 2, 1000);
% Define the potential function V(x)
V = -x.^2 / 2 + x.^4 / 4;
% Plot the potential function
figure;
plot(x, V, 'LineWidth', 2);
hold on;
% Mark the minima at x = ±1
plot([-1, 1], [-1/4, -1/4], 'ro', 'MarkerSize', 5, 'MarkerFaceColor', 'g');
% Add LaTeX title and labels
title('Duffing Potential Energy: $$V(x) = -\frac{x^2}{2} + \frac{x^4}{4}$$', 'Interpreter', 'latex');
xlabel('$$x$$', 'Interpreter', 'latex');
ylabel('$$V(x)$$','Interpreter', 'latex');
grid on;
hold off;
  • Solving and Plotting the Duffing Equation
% Define the system of ODEs for the non-chaotic Duffing equation
duffing_ode = @(t, X) [X(2);
X(1) - X(1).^3];
% Time span for the simulation
tspan = [0 10];
% Initial conditions [x(0), v(0)]
initial_conditions = [1; 1];
% Solve the ODE using ode45
[t, X] = ode45(duffing_ode, tspan, initial_conditions);
% Extract displacement (x) and velocity (v)
x = X(:, 1);
v = X(:, 2);
% Plot both x(t) and v(t) in the same figure
figure;
plot(t, x, 'b-', 'LineWidth', 2); % Plot x(t) with blue line
hold on;
plot(t, v, 'r--', 'LineWidth', 2); % Plot v(t) with red dashed line
% Add title, labels, and legend
title(' Component curve solutions to $$\ddot{x}-x+x^3=0$$','Interpreter', 'latex');
xlabel('t','Interpreter', 'latex');
ylabel('$$x(t) $$ and $$v(t) $$','Interpreter', 'latex');
legend('$$x(t)$$', ' $$v(t)$$','Interpreter', 'latex');
grid on;
hold off;
% Phase portrait with nullclines, equilibria, and vector field
figure;
hold on;
% Plot phase portrait
plot(x, v,'r', 'LineWidth', 2);
% Plot equilibrium points
plot([0 1 -1], [0 0 0], 'ro', 'MarkerSize', 5, 'MarkerFaceColor', 'g');
% Create a grid of points for the vector field
[x_vals, v_vals] = meshgrid(linspace(-2, 2, 20), linspace(-1, 1, 20));
% Compute the vector field components
dxdt = v_vals;
dvdt = x_vals - x_vals.^3;
% Plot the vector field
quiver(x_vals, v_vals, dxdt, dvdt, 'b');
% Set axis limits to [-1, 1]
xlim([-1.7 1.7]);
ylim([-1 1]);
% Labels and title
title('Phase-Plane solutions to $$\ddot{x}-x+x^3=0$$','Interpreter', 'latex');
xlabel('$$ (x)$$','Interpreter', 'latex');
ylabel('$$v(v)$$','Interpreter', 'latex');
grid on;
hold off;
Athanasios Paraskevopoulos
Athanasios Paraskevopoulos
Last activity am 12 Aug. 2024

An attractor is called strange if it has a fractal structure, that is if it has non-integer Hausdorff dimension. This is often the case when the dynamics on it are chaotic, but strange nonchaotic attractors also exist. If a strange attractor is chaotic, exhibiting sensitive dependence on initial conditions, then any two arbitrarily close alternative initial points on the attractor, after any of various numbers of iterations, will lead to points that are arbitrarily far apart (subject to the confines of the attractor), and after any of various other numbers of iterations will lead to points that are arbitrarily close together. Thus a dynamic system with a chaotic attractor is locally unstable yet globally stable: once some sequences have entered the attractor, nearby points diverge from one another but never depart from the attractor.
The term strange attractor was coined by David Ruelle and Floris Takens to describe the attractor resulting from a series of bifurcations of a system describing fluid flow. Strange attractors are often differentiable in a few directions, but some are like a Cantor dust, and therefore not differentiable. Strange attractors may also be found in the presence of noise, where they may be shown to support invariant random probability measures of Sinai–Ruelle–Bowen type.
Examples of strange attractors include the Rössler attractor, and Lorenz attractor.
Lorenz
% Lorenz Attractor Parameters
sigma = 10;
beta = 8/3;
rho = 28;
% Lorenz system of differential equations
f = @(t, a) [-sigma*a(1) + sigma*a(2);
rho*a(1) - a(2) - a(1)*a(3);
-beta*a(3) + a(1)*a(2)];
% Time span
tspan = [0 100];
% Initial conditions
a0 = [1 1 1];
% Solve the system using ode45
[t, a] = ode45(f, tspan, a0);
% Plot using scatter3 with time-based color mapping
figure;
scatter3(a(:,1), a(:,2), a(:,3), 5, t, 'filled'); % 5 is the marker size
title('Lorenz Attractor');
xlabel('x(t)');
ylabel('y(t)');
zlabel('z(t)');
grid on;
colorbar; % Add a colorbar to indicate the time mapping
view(3); % Set the view to 3D
Sprott
% Define the parameters
a = 2.07;
b = 1.79;
% Define the system of differential equations
dynamics = @(t, X) [ ...
X(2) + a * X(1) * X(2) + X(1) * X(3); % dx/dt
1 - b * X(1)^2 + X(2) * X(3); % dy/dt
X(1) - X(1)^2 - X(2)^2 % dz/dt
];
% Initial conditions
X0 = [0.63; 0.47; -0.54];
% Time span
tspan = [0 100];
% Solve the system using ode45
[t, X] = ode45(dynamics, tspan, X0);
% Plot the results with color gradient
figure;
colormap(jet); % Set the colormap
c = linspace(1, 10, length(t)); % Color data based on time
% Create a 3D line plot with color based on time
for i = 1:length(t)-1
plot3(X(i:i+1,1), X(i:i+1,2), X(i:i+1,3), 'Color', [0 0.5 0.9]*c(i)/10, 'LineWidth', 1.5);
hold on;
end
% Set plot properties
title('Sprott Attractor');
xlabel('x(t)');
ylabel('y(t)');
zlabel('z(t)');
grid on;
colorbar; % Add a colorbar to indicate the time mapping
view(3); % Set the view to 3D
hold off;
Rössler
% Define the parameters
a = 0.2;
b = 0.2;
c = 5.7;
% Define the system of differential equations
dynamics = @(t, X) [ ...
-(X(2) + X(3)); % dx/dt
X(1) + a * X(2); % dy/dt
b + X(3) * (X(1) - c) % dz/dt
];
% Initial conditions
X0 = [10.0; 0.00; 10.0];
% Time span
tspan = [0 100];
% Solve the system using ode45
[t, X] = ode45(dynamics, tspan, X0);
% Plot the results
figure;
scatter3(X(:,1), X(:,2), X(:,3), 5, t, 'filled');
title('Rössler Attractor');
xlabel('x(t)');
ylabel('y(t)');
zlabel('z(t)');
grid on;
colorbar; % Add a colorbar to indicate the time mapping
view(3); % Set the view to 3D
Rabinovich-Fabrikant
%% Parameters for Rabinovich-Fabrikant Attractor
alpha = 0.14;
gamma = 0.10;
dt = 0.01;
num_steps = 5000;
% Initial conditions
x0 = -1;
y0 = 0;
z0 = 0.5;
% Preallocate arrays for performance
x = zeros(1, num_steps);
y = zeros(1, num_steps);
z = zeros(1, num_steps);
% Set initial values
x(1) = x0;
y(1) = y0;
z(1) = z0;
% Generate the attractor
for i = 1:num_steps-1
x(i+1) = x(i) + dt * (y(i)*(z(i) - 1 + x(i)^2) + gamma*x(i));
y(i+1) = y(i) + dt * (x(i)*(3*z(i) + 1 - x(i)^2) + gamma*y(i));
z(i+1) = z(i) + dt * (-2*z(i)*(alpha + x(i)*y(i)));
end
% Create a time vector for color mapping
t = linspace(0, 100, num_steps);
% Plot using scatter3
figure;
scatter3(x, y, z, 5, t, 'filled'); % 5 is the marker size
title('Rabinovich-Fabrikant Attractor');
xlabel('x(t)');
ylabel('y(t)');
zlabel('z(t)');
grid on;
colorbar; % Add a colorbar to indicate the time mapping
view(3); % Set the view to 3D
References
  1. Strange Attractors
  2. Attractor
Does your company or organization require that all your Word Documents and Excel workbooks be labeled with a Microsoft Azure Information Protection label or else they can't be saved? These are the labels that are right below the tool ribbon that apply a category label such as "Public", "Business Use", or "Highly Restricted". If so, you can either
  1. Create and save a "template file" with the desired label and then call copyfile to make a copy of that file and then write your results to the new copy, or
  2. If using Windows you can create and/or open the file using ActiveX and then apply the desired label from your MATLAB program's code.
For #1 you can do
copyfile(templateFileName, newDataFileName);
writematrix(myData, newDataFileName);
If the template has the AIP label applied to it, then the copy will also inherit the same label.
For #2, here is a demo for how to apply the code using ActiveX.
% Test to set the Microsoft Azure Information Protection label on an Excel workbook.
% Reference support article:
% https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/1901140-why-does-azure-information-protection-popup-pause-the-matlab-script-when-i-use-actxserver?s_tid=ta_ans_results
clc; % Clear the command window.
close all; % Close all figures (except those of imtool.)
clear; % Erase all existing variables. Or clearvars if you want.
workspace; % Make sure the workspace panel is showing.
format compact;
% Define your workbook file name.
excelFullFileName = fullfile(pwd, '\testAIP.xlsx');
% Make sure it exists. Open Excel as an ActiveX server if it does.
if isfile(excelFullFileName)
% If the workbook exists, launch Excel as an ActiveX server.
Excel = actxserver('Excel.Application');
Excel.visible = true; % Make the server visible.
fprintf('Excel opened successfully.\n');
fprintf('Your workbook file exists:\n"%s".\nAbout to try to open it.\n', excelFullFileName);
% Open up the existing workbook named in the variable fullFileName.
Excel.Workbooks.Open(excelFullFileName);
fprintf('Excel opened file successfully.\n');
else
% File does not exist. Alert the user.
warningMessage = sprintf('File does not exist:\n\n"%s"\n', excelFullFileName);
fprintf('%s\n', warningMessage);
errordlg(warningMessage);
return;
end
% If we get here, the workbook file exists and has been opened by Excel.
% Ask Excel for the Microsoft Azure Information Protection (AIP) label of the workbook we just opened.
label = Excel.ActiveWorkbook.SensitivityLabel.GetLabel
% See if there is a label already. If not, these will be null:
existingLabelID = label.LabelId
existingLabelName = label.LabelName
% Create a label.
label = Excel.ActiveWorkbook.SensitivityLabel.CreateLabelInfo
label.LabelId = "a518e53f-798e-43aa-978d-c3fda1f3a682";
label.LabelName = "Business Use";
% Assign the label to the workbook.
fprintf('Setting Microsoft Azure Information Protection to "Business Use", GUID of a518e53f-798e-43aa-978d-c3fda1f3a682\n');
Excel.ActiveWorkbook.SensitivityLabel.SetLabel(label, label);
% Save this workbook with the new AIP setting we just created.
Excel.ActiveWorkbook.Save;
% Shut down Excel.
Excel.ActiveWorkbook.Close;
Excel.Quit;
% Excel is now closed down. Delete the variable from the MATLAB workspace.
clear Excel;
% Now check to see if the AIP label has been set
% by opening up the file in Excel and looking at the AIP banner.
winopen(excelFullFileName)
Note that there is a line in there that gets an AIP label from the existing workbook, if there is one at all. If there is not one, you can set one. But to determine what the proper LabelId (that crazy long hexadecimal number) should be, you will probably need to open an existing document that already has the label that you want set (applied to it) and then read that label with this line:
label = Excel.ActiveWorkbook.SensitivityLabel.GetLabel
This project discusses predator-prey system, particularly the Lotka-Volterra equations,which model the interaction between two sprecies: prey and predators. Let's solve the Lotka-Volterra equations numerically and visualize the results.% Define parameters
% Define parameters
alpha = 1.0; % Prey birth rate
beta = 0.1; % Predator success rate
gamma = 1.5; % Predator death rate
delta = 0.075; % Predator reproduction rate
% Define the symbolic variables
syms R W
% Define the equations
eq1 = alpha * R - beta * R * W == 0;
eq2 = delta * R * W - gamma * W == 0;
% Solve the equations
equilibriumPoints = solve([eq1, eq2], [R, W]);
% Extract the equilibrium point values
Req = double(equilibriumPoints.R);
Weq = double(equilibriumPoints.W);
% Display the equilibrium points
equilibriumPointsValues = [Req, Weq]
equilibriumPointsValues = 2x2
0 0 20 10
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% Solve the differential equations using ode45
lotkaVolterra = @(t,Y)[alpha*Y(1)-beta*Y(1)*Y(2);
delta*Y(1)*Y(2)-gamma*Y(2)];
% Initial conditions
R0 = 40;
W0 = 9;
Y0 = [R0, W0];
tspan = [0, 100];
% Solve the differential equations
[t, Y] = ode45(lotkaVolterra, tspan, Y0);
% Extract the populations
R = Y(:, 1);
W = Y(:, 2);
% Plot the results
figure;
subplot(2,1,1);
plot(t, R, 'r', 'LineWidth', 1.5);
hold on;
plot(t, W, 'b', 'LineWidth', 1.5);
xlabel('Time (months)');
ylabel('Population');
legend('R', 'W');
grid on;
subplot(2,1,2);
plot(R, W, 'k', 'LineWidth', 1.5);
xlabel('R');
ylabel('W');
grid on;
hold on;
plot(Req, Weq, 'ro', 'MarkerSize', 8, 'MarkerFaceColor', 'r');
legend('Phase Trajectory', 'Equilibrium Point');
Now, we need to handle a modified version of the Lotka-Volterra equations. These modified equations incorporate logistic growth fot the prey population.
These equations are:
% Define parameters
alpha = 1.0;
K = 100; % Carrying Capacity of the prey population
beta = 0.1;
gamma = 1.5;
delta = 0.075;
% Define the symbolic variables
syms R W
% Define the equations
eq1 = alpha*R*(1 - R/K) - beta*R*W == 0;
eq2 = delta*R*W - gamma*W == 0;
% Solve the equations
equilibriumPoints = solve([eq1, eq2], [R, W]);
% Extract the equilibrium point values
Req = double(equilibriumPoints.R);
Weq = double(equilibriumPoints.W);
% Display the equilibrium points
equilibriumPointsValues = [Req, Weq]
equilibriumPointsValues = 3x2
0 0 20 8 100 0
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% Solve the differential equations using ode45
modified_lv = @(t,Y)[alpha*Y(1)*(1-Y(1)/K)-beta*Y(1)*Y(2);
delta*Y(1)*Y(2)-gamma*Y(2)];
% Initial conditions
R0 = 40;
W0 = 9;
Y0 = [R0, W0];
tspan = [0, 100];
% Solve the differential equations
[t, Y] = ode45(modified_lv, tspan, Y0);
% Extract the populations
R = Y(:, 1);
W = Y(:, 2);
% Plot the results
figure;
subplot(2,1,1);
plot(t, R, 'r', 'LineWidth', 1.5);
hold on;
plot(t, W, 'b', 'LineWidth', 1.5);
xlabel('Time (months)');
ylabel('Population');
legend('R', 'W');
grid on;
subplot(2,1,2);
plot(R, W, 'k', 'LineWidth', 1.5);
xlabel('R');
ylabel('W');
grid on;
hold on;
plot(Req, Weq, 'ro', 'MarkerSize', 8, 'MarkerFaceColor', 'r');
legend('Phase Trajectory', 'Equilibrium Point');
Chord diagrams are very common in Python and R, but there are no related functions in MATLAB before. It is not easy to draw chord diagrams of the same quality as R language, But I created a MATLAB tool that could almost do it.
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑
Here is the help document:
1 Data Format
The data requirement is a numerical matrix with all values greater than or equal to 0, or a table array, or a numerical matrix and cell array for names. First, give an example of a numerical matrix:
1.1 Numerical Matrix
dataMat=randi([0,5],[5,4]);
% 绘图(draw)
CC=chordChart(dataMat);
CC=CC.draw();
Since each object is not named, it will be automatically named Rn and Cn
1.2 Numerical Matrix and Cell Array for Names
dataMat=[2 0 1 2 5 1 2;
3 5 1 4 2 0 1;
4 0 5 5 2 4 3];
colName={'G1','G2','G3','G4','G5','G6','G7'};
rowName={'S1','S2','S3'};
CC=chordChart(dataMat,'rowName',rowName,'colName',colName);
CC=CC.draw();
RowName should be the same size as the rows of the matrix
ColName should be the same size as the columns of the matrix
For this example, if the value in the second row and third column is 1, it indicates that there is an energy flow from S2 to G3, and a chord with a width of 1 is needed between these two.
1.3 Table Array
A table array in the following format is required:
2 Decorate Chord
2.1 Batch modification of chords
Batch modification of chords can be done using the setChordProp function, and all properties of the Patch object can be modified. For example, modifying the color of the string, edge color, edge line sstyle, etc.:
CC.setChordProp('EdgeColor',[.3,.3,.3],'LineStyle','--',...
'LineWidth',.1,'FaceColor',[.3,.3,.3])
2.2 Individual Modification of Chord
The individual modification of chord can be done using the setChordMN function, where the values of m and n correspond exactly to the rows and columns of the original numerical matrix. For example, changing the color of the strings flowing from S2 to G4 to red:
CC.setChordMN(2,4,'FaceColor',[1,0,0])
2.3 Color Mapping of Chords
Just use function colormap to do so:
% version 1.7.0更新
% 可使用colormap函数直接修改颜色
% Colors can be adjusted directly using the function colormap(demo4)
colormap(flipud(pink))
3 Arc Shaped Block Decoration
3.1 Batch Decoration of Arc-Shaped Blocks
use:
  • setSquareT_Prop
  • setSquareF_Prop
to modify the upper and lower blocks separately, and all attributes of the Patch object can be modified. For example, batch modify the upper blocks (change to black):
CC.setSquareT_Prop('FaceColor',[0,0,0])
3.2 Arc-Shaped Blocks Individually Decoration
use:
  • setSquareT_N
  • setSquareF_N
to modify the upper and lower blocks separately. For example, modify the second block above separately (changed to red):
CC.setSquareT_N(2,'FaceColor',[.8,0,0])
4 Font Adjustment
Use the setFont function to adjust the font, and all properties of the text object can be modified. For example, changing the font size, font, and color of the text:
CC.setFont('FontSize',25,'FontName','Cambria','Color',[0,0,.8])
5 Show and Hide Ticks
Usage:
CC.tickState('on')
% CC.tickState('off')
6 Attribute 'Sep' with Adjustable Square Spacing
If the matrix size is large, the drawing will be out of scale:
dataMat=randi([0,1],[20,10]);
CC=chordChart(dataMat);
CC=CC.draw();
% CC.tickState('on')
We can modify its Sep attribute:
dataMat=randi([0,1],[20,10]);
% use Sep to decrease space (separation)
% 使用 sep 减小空隙
CC=chordChart(dataMat,'Sep',1/120);
CC=CC.draw();
7 Modify Text Direction
dataMat=randi([0,1],[20,10]);
% use Sep to decrease space (separation)
% 使用 sep 减小空隙
CC=chordChart(dataMat,'Sep',1/120);
CC=CC.draw();
CC.tickState('on')
% version 1.7.0更新
% 函数labelRatato用来旋转标签
% The function labelRatato is used to rotate the label
CC.labelRotate('on')
8 Add Tick Labels
dataMat=[2 0 1 2 5 1 2;
3 5 1 4 2 0 1;
4 0 5 5 2 4 3];
colName={'G1','G2','G3','G4','G5','G6','G7'};
rowName={'S1','S2','S3'};
CC=chordChart(dataMat,'rowName',rowName,'colName',colName);
CC=CC.draw();
CC.setFont('FontSize',17,'FontName','Cambria')
% 显示刻度和数值
% Displays scales and numeric values
CC.tickState('on')
CC.tickLabelState('on')
% 调节标签半径
% Adjustable Label radius
CC.setLabelRadius(1.3);
% figure()
% dataMat=[2 0 1 2 5 1 2;
% 3 5 1 4 2 0 1;
% 4 0 5 5 2 4 3];
% dataMat=dataMat+rand(3,7);
% dataMat(dataMat<1)=0;
%
% CC=chordChart(dataMat,'rowName',rowName,'colName',colName);
% CC=CC.draw();
% CC.setFont('FontSize',17,'FontName','Cambria')
%
% % 显示刻度和数值
% % Displays scales and numeric values
% CC.tickState('on')
% CC.tickLabelState('on')
%
% % 调节标签半径
% % Adjustable Label radius
% CC.setLabelRadius(1.4);
9 Custom Tick Label Format
A function handle is required to input numeric output strings. The format can be set through the setTickLabelFormat function, such as Scientific notation:
dataMat=[2 0 1 2 5 1 2;
3 5 1 4 2 0 1;
4 0 5 5 2 4 3];
dataMat=dataMat+rand(3,7);
dataMat(dataMat<1)=0;
dataMat=dataMat.*1000;
CC=chordChart(dataMat);
CC=CC.draw();
CC.setFont('FontSize',17,'FontName','Cambria')
% 显示刻度和数值
% Displays scales and numeric values
CC.tickState('on')
CC.tickLabelState('on')
% 调节标签半径
% Adjustable Label radius
CC.setLabelRadius(1.4);
% 调整数值字符串格式
% Adjust numeric string format
CC.setTickLabelFormat(@(x)sprintf('%0.1e',x))
10 A Demo
rng(2)
dataMat=randi([1,7],[11,5]);
colName={'Fly','Beetle','Leaf','Soil','Waxberry'};
rowName={'Bartomella','Bradyrhizobium','Dysgomonas','Enterococcus',...
'Lactococcus','norank','others','Pseudomonas','uncultured',...
'Vibrionimonas','Wolbachia'};
CC=chordChart(dataMat,'rowName',rowName,'colName',colName,'Sep',1/80);
CC=CC.draw();
% 修改上方方块颜色(Modify the color of the blocks above)
CListT=[0.7765 0.8118 0.5216;0.4431 0.4706 0.3843;0.5804 0.2275 0.4549;
0.4471 0.4039 0.6745;0.0157 0 0 ];
for i=1:5
CC.setSquareT_N(i,'FaceColor',CListT(i,:))
end
% 修改下方方块颜色(Modify the color of the blocks below)
CListF=[0.5843 0.6863 0.7843;0.1098 0.1647 0.3255;0.0902 0.1608 0.5373;
0.6314 0.7961 0.2118;0.0392 0.2078 0.1059;0.0157 0 0 ;
0.8549 0.9294 0.8745;0.3882 0.3255 0.4078;0.5020 0.7216 0.3843;
0.0902 0.1843 0.1804;0.8196 0.2314 0.0706];
for i=1:11
CC.setSquareF_N(i,'FaceColor',CListF(i,:))
end
% 修改弦颜色(Modify chord color)
for i=1:5
for j=1:11
CC.setChordMN(j,i,'FaceColor',CListT(i,:),'FaceAlpha',.5)
end
end
CC.tickState('on')
CC.labelRotate('on')
CC.setFont('FontSize',17,'FontName','Cambria')
Hope to have your Reviews and Stars!!!
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑
We are modeling the introduction of a novel pathogen into a completely susceptible population. In the cells below, I have provided you with the Matlab code for a simple stochastic SIR model, implemented using the "GillespieSSA" function
Simulating the stochastic model 100 times for
Since γ is 0.4 per day, per day
% Define the parameters
beta = 0.36;
gamma = 0.4;
n_sims = 100;
tf = 100; % Time frame changed to 100
% Calculate R0
R0 = beta / gamma
R0 = 0.9000
% Initial state values
initial_state_values = [1000000; 1; 0; 0]; % S, I, R, cum_inc
% Define the propensities and state change matrix
a = @(state) [beta * state(1) * state(2) / 1000000, gamma * state(2)];
nu = [-1, 0; 1, -1; 0, 1; 0, 0];
% Define the Gillespie algorithm function
function [t_values, state_values] = gillespie_ssa(initial_state, a, nu, tf)
t = 0;
state = initial_state(:); % Ensure state is a column vector
t_values = t;
state_values = state';
while t < tf
rates = a(state);
rate_sum = sum(rates);
if rate_sum == 0
break;
end
tau = -log(rand) / rate_sum;
t = t + tau;
r = rand * rate_sum;
cum_sum_rates = cumsum(rates);
reaction_index = find(cum_sum_rates >= r, 1);
state = state + nu(:, reaction_index);
% Update cumulative incidence if infection occurred
if reaction_index == 1
state(4) = state(4) + 1; % Increment cumulative incidence
end
t_values = [t_values; t];
state_values = [state_values; state'];
end
end
% Function to simulate the stochastic model multiple times and plot results
function simulate_stoch_model(beta, gamma, n_sims, tf, initial_state_values, R0, plot_type)
% Define the propensities and state change matrix
a = @(state) [beta * state(1) * state(2) / 1000000, gamma * state(2)];
nu = [-1, 0; 1, -1; 0, 1; 0, 0];
% Set random seed for reproducibility
rng(11);
% Initialize plot
figure;
hold on;
for i = 1:n_sims
[t, output] = gillespie_ssa(initial_state_values, a, nu, tf);
% Check if the simulation had only one step and re-run if necessary
while length(t) == 1
[t, output] = gillespie_ssa(initial_state_values, a, nu, tf);
end
if strcmp(plot_type, 'cumulative_incidence')
plot(t, output(:, 4), 'LineWidth', 2, 'Color', rand(1, 3));
elseif strcmp(plot_type, 'prevalence')
plot(t, output(:, 2), 'LineWidth', 2, 'Color', rand(1, 3));
end
end
xlabel('Time (days)');
if strcmp(plot_type, 'cumulative_incidence')
ylabel('Cumulative Incidence');
ylim([0 inf]);
elseif strcmp(plot_type, 'prevalence')
ylabel('Prevalence of Infection');
ylim([0 50]);
end
title(['Stochastic model output for R0 = ', num2str(R0)]);
subtitle([num2str(n_sims), ' simulations']);
xlim([0 tf]);
grid on;
hold off;
end
% Simulate the model 100 times and plot cumulative incidence
simulate_stoch_model(beta, gamma, n_sims, tf, initial_state_values, R0, 'cumulative_incidence');
% Simulate the model 100 times and plot prevalence
simulate_stoch_model(beta, gamma, n_sims, tf, initial_state_values, R0, 'prevalence');
Many times when ploting, we not only need to set the color of the plot, but also its
transparency, Then how we set the alphaData of colorbar at the same time ?
It seems easy to do so :
data = rand(12,12);
% Transparency range 0-1, .3-1 for better appearance here
AData = rescale(- data, .3, 1);
% Draw an imagesc with numerical control over colormap and transparency
imagesc(data, 'AlphaData',AData);
colormap(jet);
ax = gca;
ax.DataAspectRatio = [1,1,1];
ax.TickDir = 'out';
ax.Box = 'off';
% get colorbar object
CBarHdl = colorbar;
pause(1e-16)
% Modify the transparency of the colorbar
CData = CBarHdl.Face.Texture.CData;
ALim = [min(min(AData)), max(max(AData))];
CData(4,:) = uint8(255.*rescale(1:size(CData, 2), ALim(1), ALim(2)));
CBarHdl.Face.Texture.ColorType = 'TrueColorAlpha';
CBarHdl.Face.Texture.CData = CData;
But !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We cannot preserve the changes when saving them as images :
It seems that when saving plots, the `Texture` will be refresh, but the `Face` will not :
however, object Face only have 4 colors to change(The four corners of a quadrilateral), how
can we set more colors ??
`Face` is a quadrilateral object, and we can change the `VertexData` to draw more than one little quadrilaterals:
data = rand(12,12);
% Transparency range 0-1, .3-1 for better appearance here
AData = rescale(- data, .3, 1);
%Draw an imagesc with numerical control over colormap and transparency
imagesc(data, 'AlphaData',AData);
colormap(jet);
ax = gca;
ax.DataAspectRatio = [1,1,1];
ax.TickDir = 'out';
ax.Box = 'off';
% get colorbar object
CBarHdl = colorbar;
pause(1e-16)
% Modify the transparency of the colorbar
CData = CBarHdl.Face.Texture.CData;
ALim = [min(min(AData)), max(max(AData))];
CData(4,:) = uint8(255.*rescale(1:size(CData, 2), ALim(1), ALim(2)));
warning off
CBarHdl.Face.ColorType = 'TrueColorAlpha';
VertexData = CBarHdl.Face.VertexData;
tY = repmat((1:size(CData,2))./size(CData,2), [4,1]);
tY1 = tY(:).'; tY2 = tY - tY(1,1); tY2(3:4,:) = 0; tY2 = tY2(:).';
tM1 = [tY1.*0 + 1; tY1; tY1.*0 + 1];
tM2 = [tY1.*0; tY2; tY1.*0];
CBarHdl.Face.VertexData = repmat(VertexData, [1,size(CData,2)]).*tM1 + tM2;
CBarHdl.Face.ColorData = reshape(repmat(CData, [4,1]), 4, []);
The higher the value, the more transparent it becomes
data = rand(12,12);
AData = rescale(- data, .3, 1);
imagesc(data, 'AlphaData',AData);
colormap(jet);
ax = gca;
ax.DataAspectRatio = [1,1,1];
ax.TickDir = 'out';
ax.Box = 'off';
CBarHdl = colorbar;
pause(1e-16)
CData = CBarHdl.Face.Texture.CData;
ALim = [min(min(AData)), max(max(AData))];
CData(4,:) = uint8(255.*rescale(size(CData, 2):-1:1, ALim(1), ALim(2)));
warning off
CBarHdl.Face.ColorType = 'TrueColorAlpha';
VertexData = CBarHdl.Face.VertexData;
tY = repmat((1:size(CData,2))./size(CData,2), [4,1]);
tY1 = tY(:).'; tY2 = tY - tY(1,1); tY2(3:4,:) = 0; tY2 = tY2(:).';
tM1 = [tY1.*0 + 1; tY1; tY1.*0 + 1];
tM2 = [tY1.*0; tY2; tY1.*0];
CBarHdl.Face.VertexData = repmat(VertexData, [1,size(CData,2)]).*tM1 + tM2;
CBarHdl.Face.ColorData = reshape(repmat(CData, [4,1]), 4, []);
More transparent in the middle
data = rand(12,12) - .5;
AData = rescale(abs(data), .1, .9);
imagesc(data, 'AlphaData',AData);
colormap(jet);
ax = gca;
ax.DataAspectRatio = [1,1,1];
ax.TickDir = 'out';
ax.Box = 'off';
CBarHdl = colorbar;
pause(1e-16)
CData = CBarHdl.Face.Texture.CData;
ALim = [min(min(AData)), max(max(AData))];
CData(4,:) = uint8(255.*rescale(abs((1:size(CData, 2)) - (1 + size(CData, 2))/2), ALim(1), ALim(2)));
warning off
CBarHdl.Face.ColorType = 'TrueColorAlpha';
VertexData = CBarHdl.Face.VertexData;
tY = repmat((1:size(CData,2))./size(CData,2), [4,1]);
tY1 = tY(:).'; tY2 = tY - tY(1,1); tY2(3:4,:) = 0; tY2 = tY2(:).';
tM1 = [tY1.*0 + 1; tY1; tY1.*0 + 1];
tM2 = [tY1.*0; tY2; tY1.*0];
CBarHdl.Face.VertexData = repmat(VertexData, [1,size(CData,2)]).*tM1 + tM2;
CBarHdl.Face.ColorData = reshape(repmat(CData, [4,1]), 4, []);
The code will work if the plot have AlphaData property
data = peaks(30);
AData = rescale(data, .2, 1);
surface(data, 'FaceAlpha','flat','AlphaData',AData);
colormap(jet(100));
ax = gca;
ax.DataAspectRatio = [1,1,1];
ax.TickDir = 'out';
ax.Box = 'off';
view(3)
CBarHdl = colorbar;
pause(1e-16)
CData = CBarHdl.Face.Texture.CData;
ALim = [min(min(AData)), max(max(AData))];
CData(4,:) = uint8(255.*rescale(1:size(CData, 2), ALim(1), ALim(2)));
warning off
CBarHdl.Face.ColorType = 'TrueColorAlpha';
VertexData = CBarHdl.Face.VertexData;
tY = repmat((1:size(CData,2))./size(CData,2), [4,1]);
tY1 = tY(:).'; tY2 = tY - tY(1,1); tY2(3:4,:) = 0; tY2 = tY2(:).';
tM1 = [tY1.*0 + 1; tY1; tY1.*0 + 1];
tM2 = [tY1.*0; tY2; tY1.*0];
CBarHdl.Face.VertexData = repmat(VertexData, [1,size(CData,2)]).*tM1 + tM2;
CBarHdl.Face.ColorData = reshape(repmat(CData, [4,1]), 4, []);
How to leave feedback on a doc page
Leaving feedback is a two-step process. At the bottom of most pages in the MATLAB documentation is a star rating.
Start by selecting a star that best answers the question. After selecting a star rating, an edit box appears where you can offer specific feedback.
When you press "Submit" you'll see the confirmation dialog below. You cannot go back and edit your content, although you can refresh the page to go through that process again.
Tips on leaving feedback
  • Be productive. The reader should clearly understand what action you'd like to see, what was unclear, what you think needs work, or what areas were really helpful.
  • Positive feedback is also helpful. By nature, feedback often focuses on suggestions for changes but it also helps to know what was clear and what worked well.
  • Point to specific areas of the page. This helps the reader to narrow the focus of the page to the area described by your feedback.
What happens to that feedback?
Before working at MathWorks I often left feedback on documentation pages but I never knew what happens after that. One day in 2021 I shared my speculation on the process:
> That feedback is received by MathWorks Gnomes which are never seen nor heard but visit the MathWorks documentation team at night while they are sleeping and whisper selected suggestions into their ears to manipulate their dreams. Occassionally this causes them to wake up with a Eureka moment that leads to changes in the documentation.
I'd like to let you in on the secret which is much less fanciful. Feedback left in the star rating and edit box are collected and periodically reviewed by the doc writers who look for trends on highly trafficked pages and finer grain feedback on less visited pages. Your feedback is important and often results in improvements.
David
David
Last activity am 23 Mai 2024

A colleague said that you can search the Help Center using the phrase 'Introduced in' followed by a release version. Such as, 'Introduced in R2022a'. Doing this yeilds search results specific for that release.
Seems pretty handy so I thought I'd share.