Page 20 - MATLAB Recipes for Earth Sciences

2 Introduction to MATLAB

2.1 MATLAB in Earth Sciences

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MATLAB is a software package developed by The MathWorks Inc.
(www.mathworks.com) founded by Jack Little and Cleve Moler in 1984
and headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts. MATLAB was designed to
perform mathematical calculations, to analyze and visualize data, and
write new software programs. The advantage of this software is the com-
bination of comprehensive math and graphics functions with a powerful
high-level language. Since MATLAB contains a large library of ready-
to-use routines for a wide range of applications, the user can solve tech-
nical computing problems much faster than with traditional program-
ming languages, such as C, C++, and FORTRAN. The standard library

of functions can be significantly expanded by add-on toolboxes, which
are collections of functions for special purposes such as image process-
ing, building map displays, performing geospatial data analysis or solv-
ing partial differential equations.
During the last few years, MATLAB has become an increasingly popular

tool in the field of earth sciences. It has been used for finite element model-

ing, the processing of seismic data and satellite images as well as for the
generation of digital elevation models from satellite images. The continuing
popularity of the software is also apparent in the scientifi c reference litera-
ture. A large number of conference presentations and scientifi c publications
have made reference to MATLAB. Similarly, a large number of the comput-
er codes in the leading Elsevier journal Computers and Geosciences are now
written in MATLAB. It appears that the software has taken over FORTRAN
in terms of popularity.
Universities and research institutions have also recognized the need for
MATLAB training for their staff and students. Many earth science depart-
ments across the world offer MATLAB courses for their undergraduates.
Similarly, The MathWorks provides classroom kits for teachers at a rea-
sonable price. It is also possible for students to purchase a low-cost edi-