more text in matlab section

1 files changed, 48 insertions, 11 deletions

diff --git a/matlab_usage_source/index.t2t b/matlab_usage_source/index.t2t
index 7ec51aa..6da711e 100644
--- a/matlab_usage_source/index.t2t
+++ b/matlab_usage_source/index.t2t
@@ -4,14 +4,38 @@ Matlab usage - short (may be too short) introduction
 
 %!style(html): ../evmik.css
 
+= Why Matlab =
+
+At the very least, it is a great replacement of a  hand held calculator. Once
+you need  to process multiple  data point it  became tedious with  a simple
+calculator. Once  you master Matlab  it will not matter  if it is  one data
+point or millions of them. It  can do complex math, plotting, fitting, etc.
+It is also the complete programming language which can stand by itself.
+Also, Matlab has excellent help documentation and a lot of tutorials at the web.
+
+There are free alternatives. [Octave  http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/]
+is  one example. This what I personally use
+instead of Matlab all the time. But it is a bit difficult with installation
+and it  might be  scary to  see no  GUI and  only a  command prompt  for a
+beginner.
+
+= Getting Matlab =
+
+Please visit W&M IT [software support page http://www.wm.edu/offices/it/a-z/software/]
+and download Matlab from appropriate "Licensed Software >> Math & Statistics
+Software" section. They have several available versions. Either one is fine.
+Since we are learning Matlab, we will not  have time to go to fancy toolboxes
+which Matlab provides/removes with new releases. 
+
 
 = How to make a simple plot =
 Suppose during the measurements we obtain the following data
-fir each parameter 'I' we measured 'V' with a particular uncertainty  dV.
-Our data is represented in the following table.
+for each current value 'I' we measured voltage 'V' 
+with some uncertainty in voltage measurement dV.
+Our experimental data is represented in the following table.
 
 || I   | V   | dV  |
-|  .1  | 1.0 | 0.2 |
+|  0.1 | 1.0 | 0.2 |
 |  1.0 | 2.2 | 0.1 |
 |  1.8 | 3.2 | 0.2 |
 |  3.3 | 3.8 | 0.2 |
@@ -27,7 +51,7 @@ dV = [ 0.2; 0.1; 0.2; 0.2; 0.3 ]
 ```
 
 Now we make a simple plot without error bars to get  the basic, text after
-**%** is considered as a comment and matlab will disregard it.
+**%** is considered as a comment and Matlab will disregard it.
 
 ```
 figure(1) % all plotting output will go to the particular window
@@ -85,7 +109,11 @@ ylabel('Current (A)')
 
 = Fixing plots font size =
 
-Honestly Matlab is not the best tool to do presentation quality plots, it requires a quite a bit of messing with their GUI. But at least for quick font size fix do the following. This looks a bit like magic spell. 
+Honestly Matlab is not the best tool to do presentation quality plots, it
+requires a quite a bit of messing with their GUI. But at least for a quick font
+size fix do the following. This might look like  a magic spell so do read documentation
+on **``set``** command.
+
 ```
 fontSize=24;
 set(gca,'FontSize',fontSize );
@@ -99,19 +127,28 @@ ylabel('Current (A)')
 [errorbar_with_large_font_plot.png]
 
 
-= Saving you matlab plots =
+= Saving you Matlab plots =
 
-Well it nice to have matlab  plots.  But as soon as you close matlab they will go away.
-How to save them for a future use? Actually, quite easy.
-For png output do
+Well it nice to have Matlab  plots.  But as soon as you close Matlab they will go away.
+How to save them for a future use? Actually, quite easy with **``print``** command. Unlike the name suggest it does not make a carbon copy but actually an electronic one.
+
+For figure saved in png format do
 ``` print('V_vs_I.png')
 
-or if you need a pdf (matlab usually make very bad pdfs)
+or if you need a pdf (Matlab usually make very bad pdfs without a lot of tweaking)
 ``` print('V_vs_I.pdf')
 
-Make sure that you read documentation for **``print``** command there are some useful parameters.
+Make sure that you read documentation for **``print``** command there are some
+useful parameters.
+
 
+= Where to learn more =
 
+At W&M Physics 256 class teaches how scientists use computers. Matlab was a language of
+choice for this class. Feel free to read and use
+[my Physics 256 materials http://physics.wm.edu/~evmik/classes/2012_fall_practical_computing_for_scientists/]
+make sure that you read at least Lecture 02 slides. Also lecture 15 slides discuss
+data reduction and fitting.