Symbolic Mathematics with MATLAB

In the previous sections, we discussed how to use MATLAB to solve eng eering problems with numerical values. In this section, we briefly explain the symbolic capabilities of MATLAB. In symbolic mathematics, as the name implies, the problem and the solution are presented using symbols, such as x instead of numerical values. We will demonstrate MATLAB s symbolic capabilities using Examples 15.7 and 15.8. 

We will use the following functions to perform MATLAB s symbolic operations, as shown in Table 15.14. 

Function Description of the Function Example Result of the Example  

In this section, we will show how you can use MATLAB s symbolic solvers to obtain solutions to a set of linear equations. 

Consider the following three linear equations with three unknowns x, y, and z, 

---

Note The tedium of completing such exercises, as well as following many derivations in this book, is reduced by the use of symbolic mathematical software. We recommend that students gain a working familiarity with at least one package such as Mathematica , MATLAB , Mathcad , or the public-domain package MAXIMA. 

---