So i'm a little confounded by how to structure my problem.
So the assignment states as following:
Type a m-file numerical_derivative.m that performs numerical derivation. Use
it to calculate f'(-3) when f(x) = 3x^2 /(ln(1-x))
In the m-file you to use h = 10^-6 and have the following mainfunction:
function y = numericalderivative (f, x)
% Calculates the numerical value in the case of f in punk x.
% --- Input ---
% f: function handle f(x)
% x: the point where the derivative is calculated
% --- output ---
% y: the numerical derivative of f on the point x
If I want to save it as a file and run the program in matlab, does't it make it redundant to use handles then?
I won't give you the answer to your homework, but perhaps a simpler example would help.
Consider the following problem
Write a function named fdiff which takes the following two arguments:
A function f represented by a function handle which takes one argument,
and a point x which can be assumed to be in the domain of the f.
Write fdiff so that it returns the value f(x) - f(x-1)
Solution (would be in the file named fdiff.m)
function result = fdiff(f, x)
result = f(x) - f(x-1);
end
Example Use Cases
>> my_function1 = #(x) 3*x^2 /(log(1-x));
>> fdiff(my_function1, -3)
ans =
-10.3477
>> my_function2 = #(x) x^2;
>> fdiff(my_function2, 5)
ans =
9
What you've created with fdiff is a function which takes another function as an input. As you can see it doesn't just work for 3*x^2 /(log(1-x)) but any function you want to define.
The purpose of your assignment is to create something very similar, except instead of computing f(x) - f(x-1), you are asked write a function which approximates f'(x). Your use-case will be nearly identical to the first example except instead of fdiff your function will be named numericalderivative.
Note
In case it's not clear, the second example defines the my_function2 as x^2. The value returned by fdiff(my_function2, 5) is therefore 5^2 - 4^2 = 9.
When you make this as a function file and run this in MATLAB without any input arguments i.e., 'f' and 'x', it will give you the error: 'not enough input arguments'. In order to run the file you have to type something like numericalderivative (3x^2 /(ln(1-x)), 5), which gives the value of the numerical derivative at x = 5.
Functions and, in MATLAB function files are a simple implementation of the DRY programming method. You're being asked to create a function that takes a handle and an x file, then return the derivative of that function handle and that x value. The point of the function file is to be able to re-use your function with either multiple function handles or multiple x values. This is useful as it simply involves passing a function handle and a numeric value to a function.
In your case your script file or command window code would look something like:
func = #(x) (3*x^2)/log(1-x);
x = -3;
num_deriv = numericalderivative(func,x);
You should write the code to make the function numericalderivative work.
Related
I have N functions in MATLAB and I can define them using strcat, num2str and eval in a for loop. So without defining by hand I am able to define N functions. Let N=4 and let them be given as follows:
f1=#(x) a1*x+1;
f2=#(x) a2*x+1;
f3=#(x) a3*x+1;
f4=#(x) a4*x+1;
Now I add these four functions and I can do this by hand as follows:
f=#(x)(f1(x)+f2(x)+f3(x)+f4(x));
Here I can do it by hand because I know that N=4. However, in general I never know how many functions I will have. For all cases I cannot write a new function.
Is there any way to do this automatically? I mean if I give N=6 I am expecting to see MATLAB giving me this:
f=#(x)(f1(x)+f2(x)+f3(x)+f4(x)+f5(x)+f6(x));
Whenever I give N=2 then I must have the function f, defined as follows:
f=#(x)(f1(x)+f2(x));
How can we do this?
First of all, you should read this answer that gives a series of reasons to avoid the use of eval. There are very few occasions where eval is necessary, in all other cases it just complicates things. In this case, you use to dynamically generate variable names, which is considered a very bad practice. As detailed in the linked answer and in further writings linked in that answer, dynamic variable names make the code harder to read, harder to maintain, and slower to execute in MATLAB.
So, instead of defining functions f1, f2, f3, ... fN, what you do is define functions f{1}, f{2}, f{3}, ... f{N}. That is, f is a cell array where each element is an anonymous function (or any other function handle).
For example, instead of
f1=#(x) a1*x+1;
f2=#(x) a2*x+1;
f3=#(x) a3*x+1;
f4=#(x) a4*x+1;
you do
N = 4;
a = [4.5, 3.4, 7.1, 2.1];
f = cell(N,1);
for ii=1:N
f{ii} = #(x) a(ii) * x + 1;
end
With these changes, we can easily answer the question. We can now write a function that outputs the sum of the functions in f:
function y = sum_of_functions(f,x)
y = 0;
for ii=1:numel(f)
y = y + f{ii}(x);
end
end
You can put this in a file called sum_of_functions.m, or you can put it at the end of your function file or script file, it doesn't matter. Now, in your code, when you want to evaluate y = f1(x) + f2(x) + f3(x)..., what you write is y = sum_of_functions(f,x).
I have a use case as follows:
Inside F.m I have a function F that takes as its argument a 2 x 1 matrix x. F needs to matrix multiply the matrix kmat by x. kmat is a variable that is generated by a script.
So, what I did was set kmat to be global in the script:
global kmat;
kmat = rand(2);
In F.m:
function result = F(x)
global kmat;
result = kmat*x;
end
Then finally, in the script I have (x_0 has already been defined as an appropriate 2 x 1 matrix, and tstart and tend are positive integers):
xs = ode45(F, [tstart, tend], x_0);
However, this is causing the error:
Error using F (line 3)
Not enough input arguments.
Error in script (line 12)
xs = ode45(F, [tstart, tend], x_0);
What is going on here, and what can I do to fix it? Alternatively, what is the right way to pass kmat to F?
Firstly, the proper way to handle kmat is to make it an input argument to F.m
function result = F(x,kmat)
result = kmat*x;
end
Secondly, the input function to ode45 must be a function with inputs t and x (possibly vectors, t is the dependent variable and x is the dependent). Since your F function doesn't have t as an input argument, and you have an extra parameter kmat, you have to make a small anonymous function when you call ode45
ode45(#(t,x) F(x,kmat),[tstart tend],x_0)
If your derivative function was function result=derivative(t,x), then you simply do ode45(#derivative,[tstart tend],x_0) as Erik said.
I believe F in ode45(F,...) should be a function handle, i.e. #F. Also, you can have a look at this page of the MATLAB documentation for different methods to pass extra parameters to functions.
function yprime=example1(t , y)
yprime=cos(t)./(2*y-2);
Then type
>> [t,y] =ode45(#example1, [0, 4*pi],3);
>> plot(t , y)
On the line ode45(#example...). Why isn't it ode(#45(t,y)example...)?. How can [0, 4*pi] and 3 be passed into the derivative (i.e. example1) if the input is missing?
The # operator can create two (maybe more) different types of handles: simple and anonymous. A simple function handle is one that directly references a function file and has no other levels of in-direction. An anonymous function is a handle that is itself a (very simple) function and possesses its own workspace for constant storage, closures, and other purposes. The difference can be seen using the functions function:
>> f1 = #example1
f1 =
#example1
>> f2 = #(t,x) example1(t,x)
f2 =
#(t,x)example1(t,x)
>> functions(f1)
ans =
function: 'example1'
type: 'simple'
file: 'C:\Development\example1.m'
>> functions(f2)
ans =
function: '#(t,x)example1(t,x)'
type: 'anonymous'
file: ''
workspace: {[1x1 struct]}
within_file_path: '__base_function'
Anonymous functions add a bit of overhead due to them being more than just pointers to functions and are therefore only really needed if you're parameterizing functions.
Regardless of the creation, ode45 and its kin will always attempt to pass the t and y argument pair to the handle you pass it via feval, and the argument list is only required if you are using anonymous functions versus direct file handle references.
That is just how the ode45 function in MATLAB works.
ode45(#function, [start, end] for t, initial value of y).
So in the example above, function is example1, t0 will be 0, tn (last point) will be 4*pi, and the initial value of y is 3.
The most important part of using ode45 is properly setting up the function. Notice how the function is set for the dy/dt. Because of this, given an initial point, it can generate the rest of the points for y at time t because it can calculate the change in y as t increases.
i want to create a function (symfun), and i want to divide it to cases, i.e if t> then then answer will be a and if t<0 the answer will be b.
the thing is, that matlab wont allow me to put an if statements after a sym function.
>> l = symfun(0, [m]);
>> l(m) = if m>0 3
also i tried to create a function:
function [x1] = xt_otot_q3(t)
and tried to connect between the two functions:
>> l(m) = xt_otot_q3(m)
Conversion to logical from sym is not possible.
is there any way to break a symfun into cases?
Not sure that I understand what you want.
This code 'combines' the functions symfun and xt+otot_q3 defined below:
function test;
m=randn(4); % N(0,1) random numbers
l=xtotot_q3(symfun(0,m)) % combine xt_otot_q3 and symfun
l=symfun(0,xtotot_q3(m)) % combine symfun and xt_otot_q3
return
function lval=symfun(thr,rval);
lval=ones(size(rval)); % output, size of input, = 1
lval(rval<thr)=-1; % output = -1 if input < thr
return
function lval=xtotot_q3(rval);
lval=3*rval+1; % some function, in this case 3 * input + 1
return
You can save the whole bit as test.m and then call test from the matlab prompt. Maybe if you start with this then you can modify it to fit your needs.
I have one file with the following code:
function fx=ff(x)
fx=x;
I have another file with the following code:
function g = LaplaceTransform(s,N)
g = ff(x)*exp(-s*x);
a=0;
b=1;
If=0;
h=(b-a)/N;
If=If+g(a)*h/2+g(b)*h/2;
for i=1:(N-1)
If=If+g(a+h*i)*h;
end;
If
Whenever I run the second file, I get the following error:
Undefined function or variable 'x'.
What I am trying to do is integrate the function g between 0 and 1 using trapezoidal approximations. However, I am unsure how to deal with x and that is clearly causing problems as can be seen with the error.
Any help would be great. Thanks.
Looks like what you're trying to do is create a function in the variable g. That is, you want the first line to mean,
"Let g(x) be a function that is calculated like this: ff(x)*exp(-s*x)",
rather than
"calculate the value of ff(x)*exp(-s*x) and put the result in g".
Solution
You can create a subfunction for this
function result = g(x)
result = ff(x) * exp(-s * x);
end
Or you can create an anonymous function
g = #(x) ff(x) * exp(-s * x);
Then you can use g(a), g(b), etc to calculate what you want.
You can also use the TRAPZ function to perform trapezoidal numerical integration. Here is an example:
%# parameters
a = 0; b = 1;
N = 100; s = 1;
f = #(x) x;
%# integration
X = linspace(a,b,N);
Y = f(X).*exp(-s*X);
If = trapz(X,Y) %# value returned: 0.26423
%# plot
area(X,Y, 'FaceColor',[.5 .8 .9], 'EdgeColor','b', 'LineWidth',2)
grid on, set(gca, 'Layer','top', 'XLim',[a-0.5 b+0.5])
title('$\int_0^1 f(x) e^{-sx} \,dx$', 'Interpreter','latex', 'FontSize',14)
The error message here is about as self-explanatory as it gets. You aren't defining a variable called x, so when you reference it on the first line of your function, MATLAB doesn't know what to use. You need to either define it in the function before referencing it, pass it into the function, or define it somewhere further up the stack so that it will be accessible when you call LaplaceTransform.
Since you're trying to numerically integrate with respect to x, I'm guessing you want x to take on values evenly spaced on your domain [0,1]. You could accomplish this using e.g.
x = linspace(a,b,N);
EDIT: There are a couple of other problems here: first, when you define g, you need to use .* instead of * to multiply the elements in the arrays (by default MATLAB interprets multiplication as matrix multiplication). Second, your calls g(a) and g(b) are treating g as a function instead of as an array of function values. This is something that takes some getting used to in MATLAB; instead of g(a), you really want the first element of the vector g, which is given by g(1). Similarly, instead of g(b), you want the last element of g, which is given by g(length(g)) or g(end). If this doesn't make sense, I'd suggest looking at a basic MATLAB tutorial to get a handle on how vectors and functions are used.