In MATLAB, you can create a matrix by entering the elements in each row as comma. You can also create a matrix with space delimited numbers and by using the semicolons to mark the end of each row.
Matrix with single row
Let us create a simple matrix in MATLAB that has a single row and three elements. Each element should have a space or comma.
Example
Consider the below mentioned elements to create a matrix.
m=[2, 4, 6]
Output
On execution in MATLAB it will display the following −
>>m = [2, 4, 6] m = 2 4 6 >>
When you execute the code in MATLAB, the result of the matrix is displayed in the command window.
Matrix with Multiple rows
Example
Let us now create a matrix with multiple rows. To do that, we need to separate each row with semicolon (;) as shown below −
m = [2 4 6; 3 6 9; 4 8 12]
Output
Here 2 4 6 is the first row, 3 6 9 is the second row and 4 8 12 is the third row. The matrix will be as follows −
m = 2 4 6 3 6 9 4 8 12
Let us now execute the same in MATLAB command prompt, as mentioned below −
>> m = [2 4 6; 3 6 9; 4 8 12] m = 2 4 6 3 6 9 4 8 12 >>
The 3×3 matrix is displayed as shown above in MATLAB.
Besides creating matrix with the values of your choice you can also make use of the built-in MATLAB functions zeros, rand or ones to create a matrix as shown below −
The zerosfunctions
This will create matrix with all zeros with the given row/column size.
Example
You can use MATLAB zeros function as follows −
m0 = zeros(3,3)
Output
You will get the following output −
>> m0 = zeros(3,3) m0 = 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 >>
The onesfunction
The matrix created will have ones as the values.
Example
You can use MATLAB ones function as follows −
m1 = ones(3,3)
Output
You will get the following output −
>> m1 = ones(3,3) m1 = 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 >>
The rand() function
The function rand() allows you to create a matrix with random elements for the size given. Here is an example for the same.
Example
m1 = rand(3,3)
Output
Let us now execute the same in MATLAB to see the results. The output is as follows −
>> m1 = rand(3,3) m1 = 0.8147 0.9134 0.2785 0.9058 0.6324 0.5469 0.1270 0.0975 0.9575 >>