%%%%%%% Introduction

     MATLAB is a specialized software system for
numerical computations with matrices.  We will see that
very sophisticated functions and computation routines
can be built from the basic matrix operations within 
MATLAB.     
     This 2-hour "Pico"-Course consists of a series of brief 
lessons intended to introduce the syntax of MATLAB and 
especially to present some commonly used functions
and techniques.  In addition, some very specific topics
useful for 6.003 are discussed in more detail.
     We *strongly advise* that the student becomes accustomed
to plotting capabilities, Help features, and
defining one's own specialized functions using M-files
in MATLAB.  With this goal in mind, we close our presentation
by using the power of MATLAB to analyze the step response for
the parallel RLC circuit.

     The overall presentation consists of five lessons:  

Lesson 1:  Generating Matrices
Lesson 2:  Basic Operations: Matrix and Element-wise
Lesson 3:  Working with Complex Numbers and Polynomials
Lesson 4:  Plotting and Printing
Lesson 5:  Illustrative Example -- Parallel RLC Circuit
	   (Using MATLAB Help features and defining one's own 
	    Scripts/Functions using M-files)