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An attractor is called strange if it has a fractal structure, that is if it has non-integer Hausdorff dimension. This is often the case when the dynamics on it are chaotic, but strange nonchaotic attractors also exist. If a strange attractor is chaotic, exhibiting sensitive dependence on initial conditions, then any two arbitrarily close alternative initial points on the attractor, after any of various numbers of iterations, will lead to points that are arbitrarily far apart (subject to the confines of the attractor), and after any of various other numbers of iterations will lead to points that are arbitrarily close together. Thus a dynamic system with a chaotic attractor is locally unstable yet globally stable: once some sequences have entered the attractor, nearby points diverge from one another but never depart from the attractor.
The term strange attractor was coined by David Ruelle and Floris Takens to describe the attractor resulting from a series of bifurcations of a system describing fluid flow. Strange attractors are often differentiable in a few directions, but some are like a Cantor dust, and therefore not differentiable. Strange attractors may also be found in the presence of noise, where they may be shown to support invariant random probability measures of Sinai–Ruelle–Bowen type.
Examples of strange attractors include the Rössler attractor, and Lorenz attractor.
Lorenz
% Lorenz Attractor Parameters
sigma = 10;
beta = 8/3;
rho = 28;
% Lorenz system of differential equations
f = @(t, a) [-sigma*a(1) + sigma*a(2);
rho*a(1) - a(2) - a(1)*a(3);
-beta*a(3) + a(1)*a(2)];
% Time span
tspan = [0 100];
% Initial conditions
a0 = [1 1 1];
% Solve the system using ode45
[t, a] = ode45(f, tspan, a0);
% Plot using scatter3 with time-based color mapping
figure;
scatter3(a(:,1), a(:,2), a(:,3), 5, t, 'filled'); % 5 is the marker size
title('Lorenz Attractor');
xlabel('x(t)');
ylabel('y(t)');
zlabel('z(t)');
grid on;
colorbar; % Add a colorbar to indicate the time mapping
view(3); % Set the view to 3D
Sprott
% Define the parameters
a = 2.07;
b = 1.79;
% Define the system of differential equations
dynamics = @(t, X) [ ...
X(2) + a * X(1) * X(2) + X(1) * X(3); % dx/dt
1 - b * X(1)^2 + X(2) * X(3); % dy/dt
X(1) - X(1)^2 - X(2)^2 % dz/dt
];
% Initial conditions
X0 = [0.63; 0.47; -0.54];
% Time span
tspan = [0 100];
% Solve the system using ode45
[t, X] = ode45(dynamics, tspan, X0);
% Plot the results with color gradient
figure;
colormap(jet); % Set the colormap
c = linspace(1, 10, length(t)); % Color data based on time
% Create a 3D line plot with color based on time
for i = 1:length(t)-1
plot3(X(i:i+1,1), X(i:i+1,2), X(i:i+1,3), 'Color', [0 0.5 0.9]*c(i)/10, 'LineWidth', 1.5);
hold on;
end
% Set plot properties
title('Sprott Attractor');
xlabel('x(t)');
ylabel('y(t)');
zlabel('z(t)');
grid on;
colorbar; % Add a colorbar to indicate the time mapping
view(3); % Set the view to 3D
hold off;
Rössler
% Define the parameters
a = 0.2;
b = 0.2;
c = 5.7;
% Define the system of differential equations
dynamics = @(t, X) [ ...
-(X(2) + X(3)); % dx/dt
X(1) + a * X(2); % dy/dt
b + X(3) * (X(1) - c) % dz/dt
];
% Initial conditions
X0 = [10.0; 0.00; 10.0];
% Time span
tspan = [0 100];
% Solve the system using ode45
[t, X] = ode45(dynamics, tspan, X0);
% Plot the results
figure;
scatter3(X(:,1), X(:,2), X(:,3), 5, t, 'filled');
title('Rössler Attractor');
xlabel('x(t)');
ylabel('y(t)');
zlabel('z(t)');
grid on;
colorbar; % Add a colorbar to indicate the time mapping
view(3); % Set the view to 3D
Rabinovich-Fabrikant
%% Parameters for Rabinovich-Fabrikant Attractor
alpha = 0.14;
gamma = 0.10;
dt = 0.01;
num_steps = 5000;
% Initial conditions
x0 = -1;
y0 = 0;
z0 = 0.5;
% Preallocate arrays for performance
x = zeros(1, num_steps);
y = zeros(1, num_steps);
z = zeros(1, num_steps);
% Set initial values
x(1) = x0;
y(1) = y0;
z(1) = z0;
% Generate the attractor
for i = 1:num_steps-1
x(i+1) = x(i) + dt * (y(i)*(z(i) - 1 + x(i)^2) + gamma*x(i));
y(i+1) = y(i) + dt * (x(i)*(3*z(i) + 1 - x(i)^2) + gamma*y(i));
z(i+1) = z(i) + dt * (-2*z(i)*(alpha + x(i)*y(i)));
end
% Create a time vector for color mapping
t = linspace(0, 100, num_steps);
% Plot using scatter3
figure;
scatter3(x, y, z, 5, t, 'filled'); % 5 is the marker size
title('Rabinovich-Fabrikant Attractor');
xlabel('x(t)');
ylabel('y(t)');
zlabel('z(t)');
grid on;
colorbar; % Add a colorbar to indicate the time mapping
view(3); % Set the view to 3D
References
  1. Strange Attractors
  2. Attractor
Image Analyst
Image Analyst
Last activity on 12 Aug 2024

Imagine that the earth is a perfect sphere with a radius of 6371000 meters and there is a rope tightly wrapped around the equator. With one line of MATLAB code determine how much the rope will be lifted above the surface if you cut it and insert a 1 meter segment of rope into it (and then expand the whole rope back into a circle again, of course).
This project discusses predator-prey system, particularly the Lotka-Volterra equations,which model the interaction between two sprecies: prey and predators. Let's solve the Lotka-Volterra equations numerically and visualize the results.% Define parameters
% Define parameters
alpha = 1.0; % Prey birth rate
beta = 0.1; % Predator success rate
gamma = 1.5; % Predator death rate
delta = 0.075; % Predator reproduction rate
% Define the symbolic variables
syms R W
% Define the equations
eq1 = alpha * R - beta * R * W == 0;
eq2 = delta * R * W - gamma * W == 0;
% Solve the equations
equilibriumPoints = solve([eq1, eq2], [R, W]);
% Extract the equilibrium point values
Req = double(equilibriumPoints.R);
Weq = double(equilibriumPoints.W);
% Display the equilibrium points
equilibriumPointsValues = [Req, Weq]
equilibriumPointsValues = 2x2
0 0 20 10
<mw-icon class=""></mw-icon>
<mw-icon class=""></mw-icon>
% Solve the differential equations using ode45
lotkaVolterra = @(t,Y)[alpha*Y(1)-beta*Y(1)*Y(2);
delta*Y(1)*Y(2)-gamma*Y(2)];
% Initial conditions
R0 = 40;
W0 = 9;
Y0 = [R0, W0];
tspan = [0, 100];
% Solve the differential equations
[t, Y] = ode45(lotkaVolterra, tspan, Y0);
% Extract the populations
R = Y(:, 1);
W = Y(:, 2);
% Plot the results
figure;
subplot(2,1,1);
plot(t, R, 'r', 'LineWidth', 1.5);
hold on;
plot(t, W, 'b', 'LineWidth', 1.5);
xlabel('Time (months)');
ylabel('Population');
legend('R', 'W');
grid on;
subplot(2,1,2);
plot(R, W, 'k', 'LineWidth', 1.5);
xlabel('R');
ylabel('W');
grid on;
hold on;
plot(Req, Weq, 'ro', 'MarkerSize', 8, 'MarkerFaceColor', 'r');
legend('Phase Trajectory', 'Equilibrium Point');
Now, we need to handle a modified version of the Lotka-Volterra equations. These modified equations incorporate logistic growth fot the prey population.
These equations are:
% Define parameters
alpha = 1.0;
K = 100; % Carrying Capacity of the prey population
beta = 0.1;
gamma = 1.5;
delta = 0.075;
% Define the symbolic variables
syms R W
% Define the equations
eq1 = alpha*R*(1 - R/K) - beta*R*W == 0;
eq2 = delta*R*W - gamma*W == 0;
% Solve the equations
equilibriumPoints = solve([eq1, eq2], [R, W]);
% Extract the equilibrium point values
Req = double(equilibriumPoints.R);
Weq = double(equilibriumPoints.W);
% Display the equilibrium points
equilibriumPointsValues = [Req, Weq]
equilibriumPointsValues = 3x2
0 0 20 8 100 0
<mw-icon class=""></mw-icon>
<mw-icon class=""></mw-icon>
% Solve the differential equations using ode45
modified_lv = @(t,Y)[alpha*Y(1)*(1-Y(1)/K)-beta*Y(1)*Y(2);
delta*Y(1)*Y(2)-gamma*Y(2)];
% Initial conditions
R0 = 40;
W0 = 9;
Y0 = [R0, W0];
tspan = [0, 100];
% Solve the differential equations
[t, Y] = ode45(modified_lv, tspan, Y0);
% Extract the populations
R = Y(:, 1);
W = Y(:, 2);
% Plot the results
figure;
subplot(2,1,1);
plot(t, R, 'r', 'LineWidth', 1.5);
hold on;
plot(t, W, 'b', 'LineWidth', 1.5);
xlabel('Time (months)');
ylabel('Population');
legend('R', 'W');
grid on;
subplot(2,1,2);
plot(R, W, 'k', 'LineWidth', 1.5);
xlabel('R');
ylabel('W');
grid on;
hold on;
plot(Req, Weq, 'ro', 'MarkerSize', 8, 'MarkerFaceColor', 'r');
legend('Phase Trajectory', 'Equilibrium Point');
Does your company or organization require that all your Word Documents and Excel workbooks be labeled with a Microsoft Azure Information Protection label or else they can't be saved? These are the labels that are right below the tool ribbon that apply a category label such as "Public", "Business Use", or "Highly Restricted". If so, you can either
  1. Create and save a "template file" with the desired label and then call copyfile to make a copy of that file and then write your results to the new copy, or
  2. If using Windows you can create and/or open the file using ActiveX and then apply the desired label from your MATLAB program's code.
For #1 you can do
copyfile(templateFileName, newDataFileName);
writematrix(myData, newDataFileName);
If the template has the AIP label applied to it, then the copy will also inherit the same label.
For #2, here is a demo for how to apply the code using ActiveX.
% Test to set the Microsoft Azure Information Protection label on an Excel workbook.
% Reference support article:
% https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/1901140-why-does-azure-information-protection-popup-pause-the-matlab-script-when-i-use-actxserver?s_tid=ta_ans_results
clc; % Clear the command window.
close all; % Close all figures (except those of imtool.)
clear; % Erase all existing variables. Or clearvars if you want.
workspace; % Make sure the workspace panel is showing.
format compact;
% Define your workbook file name.
excelFullFileName = fullfile(pwd, '\testAIP.xlsx');
% Make sure it exists. Open Excel as an ActiveX server if it does.
if isfile(excelFullFileName)
% If the workbook exists, launch Excel as an ActiveX server.
Excel = actxserver('Excel.Application');
Excel.visible = true; % Make the server visible.
fprintf('Excel opened successfully.\n');
fprintf('Your workbook file exists:\n"%s".\nAbout to try to open it.\n', excelFullFileName);
% Open up the existing workbook named in the variable fullFileName.
Excel.Workbooks.Open(excelFullFileName);
fprintf('Excel opened file successfully.\n');
else
% File does not exist. Alert the user.
warningMessage = sprintf('File does not exist:\n\n"%s"\n', excelFullFileName);
fprintf('%s\n', warningMessage);
errordlg(warningMessage);
return;
end
% If we get here, the workbook file exists and has been opened by Excel.
% Ask Excel for the Microsoft Azure Information Protection (AIP) label of the workbook we just opened.
label = Excel.ActiveWorkbook.SensitivityLabel.GetLabel
% See if there is a label already. If not, these will be null:
existingLabelID = label.LabelId
existingLabelName = label.LabelName
% Create a label.
label = Excel.ActiveWorkbook.SensitivityLabel.CreateLabelInfo
label.LabelId = "a518e53f-798e-43aa-978d-c3fda1f3a682";
label.LabelName = "Business Use";
% Assign the label to the workbook.
fprintf('Setting Microsoft Azure Information Protection to "Business Use", GUID of a518e53f-798e-43aa-978d-c3fda1f3a682\n');
Excel.ActiveWorkbook.SensitivityLabel.SetLabel(label, label);
% Save this workbook with the new AIP setting we just created.
Excel.ActiveWorkbook.Save;
% Shut down Excel.
Excel.ActiveWorkbook.Close;
Excel.Quit;
% Excel is now closed down. Delete the variable from the MATLAB workspace.
clear Excel;
% Now check to see if the AIP label has been set
% by opening up the file in Excel and looking at the AIP banner.
winopen(excelFullFileName)
Note that there is a line in there that gets an AIP label from the existing workbook, if there is one at all. If there is not one, you can set one. But to determine what the proper LabelId (that crazy long hexadecimal number) should be, you will probably need to open an existing document that already has the label that you want set (applied to it) and then read that label with this line:
label = Excel.ActiveWorkbook.SensitivityLabel.GetLabel
This stems purely from some play on my part. Suppose I asked you to work with the sequence formed as 2*n*F_n + 1, where F_n is the n'th Fibonacci number? Part of me would not be surprised to find there is nothing simple we could do. But, then it costs nothing to try, to see where MATLAB can take me in an explorative sense.
n = sym(0:100).';
Fn = fibonacci(n);
Sn = 2*n.*Fn + 1;
Sn(1:10) % A few elements
ans = 
For kicks, I tried asking ChatGPT. Giving it nothing more than the first 20 members of thse sequence as integers, it decided this is a Perrin sequence, and gave me a recurrence relation, but one that is in fact incorrect. Good effort from the Ai, but a fail in the end.
Is there anything I can do? Try null! (Look carefully at the array generated by Toeplitz. It is at least a pretty way to generate the matrix I needed.)
X = toeplitz(Sn,[1,zeros(1,4)]);
rank(X(5:end,:))
ans = 5
Hmm. So there is no linear combination of those columns that yields all zeros, since the resulting matrix was full rank.
X = toeplitz(Sn,[1,zeros(1,5)]);
rank(X(6:end,:))
ans = 5
But if I take it one step further, we see the above matrix is now rank deficient. What does that tell me? It says there is some simple linear combination of the columns of X(6:end,:) that always yields zero. The previous test tells me there is no shorter constant coefficient recurrence releation, using fewer terms.
null(X(6:end,:))
ans = 
Let me explain what those coefficients tell me. In fact, they yield a very nice recurrence relation for the sequence S_n, not unlike the original Fibonacci sequence it was based upon.
S(n+1) = 3*S(n) - S_(n-1) - 3*S(n-2) + S(n-3) + S(n-4)
where the first 5 members of that sequence are given as [1 3 5 13 25]. So a 6 term linear constant coefficient recurrence relation. If it reminds you of the generating relation for the Fibonacci sequence, that is good, because it should. (Remember I started the sequence at n==0, IF you decide to test it out.) We can test it out, like this:
SfunM = memoize(@(N) Sfun(N));
SfunM(25)
ans = 3751251
2*25*fibonacci(sym(25)) + 1
ans = 
3751251
And indeed, it works as expected.
function Sn = Sfun(n)
switch n
case 0
Sn = 1;
case 1
Sn = 3;
case 2
Sn = 5;
case 3
Sn = 13;
case 4
Sn = 25;
otherwise
Sn = Sfun(n-5) + Sfun(n-4) - 3*Sfun(n-3) - Sfun(n-2) +3*Sfun(n-1);
end
end
A beauty of this, is I started from nothing but a sequence of integers, derived from an expression where I had no rational expectation of finding a formula, and out drops something pretty. I might call this explorational mathematics.
The next step of course is to go in the other direction. That is, given the derived recurrence relation, if I substitute the formula for S_n in terms of the Fibonacci numbers, can I prove it is valid in general? (Yes.) After all, without some proof, it may fail for n larger than 100. (I'm not sure how much I can cram into a single discussion, so I'll stop at this point for now. If I see interest in the ideas here, I can proceed further. For example, what was I doing with that sequence in the first place? And of course, can I prove the relation is valid? Can I do so using MATLAB?)
(I'll be honest, starting from scratch, I'm not sure it would have been obvious to find that relation, so null was hugely useful here.)
Something that had bothered me ever since I became an FEA analyst (2012) was the apparent inability of the "camera" in Matlab's 3D plot to function like the "cameras" in CAD/CAE packages.
For instance, load the ForearmLink.stl model that ships with the PDE Toolbox in Matlab and ParaView and try rotating the model.
clear
close all
gm = importGeometry( "ForearmLink.stl" );
pdegplot(gm)
To provide talking points, here's a YouTube video I recorded.
Things to observe:
  1. Note that I cant seem to rotate continuously around the x-axis. It appears to only support rotations from [0, 360] as opposed to [-inf, inf]. So, for example, if I'm looking in the Y+ direction and rotate around X so that I'm looking at the Z- direction, and then want to look in the Y- direction, I can't simply keep rotating around the X axis... instead have to rotate 180 degrees around the Z axis and then around the X axis. I'm not aware of any data visualization applications (e.g., ParaView, VisIt, EnSight) or CAD/CAE tools with such an interaction.
  2. Note that at the 50 second mark, I set a view in ParaView: looking in the [X-, Y-, Z-] direction with Y+ up. Try as I might in Matlab, I'm unable to achieve that same view perspective.
Today I discovered that if one turns on the Camera Toolbar from the View menubar, then clicks the Orbit Camera icon, then the No Principal Axis icon:
That then it acts in the manner I've long desired. Oh, and also, for the interested, it is programmatically available: https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/cameratoolbar.html
I might humbly propose this mode either be made more discoverable, similar to the little interaction widgets that pop up in figures:
Or maybe use the middle-mouse button to temporarily use this mode (a mouse setting in, e.g., Abaqus/CAE).
Honzik
Honzik
Last activity on 18 Jul 2024

I've noticed is that the highly rated fonts for coding (e.g. Fira Code, Inconsolata, etc.) seem to overlook one issue that is key for coding in Matlab. While these fonts make 0 and O, as well as the 1 and l easily distinguishable, the brackets are not. Quite often the curly bracket looks similar to the curved bracket, which can lead to mistakes when coding or reviewing code.
So I was thinking: Could Mathworks put together a team to review good programming fonts, and come up with their own custom font designed specifically and optimized for Matlab syntax?
An option for 10th degree polynomials but no weighted linear least squares. Seriously? Jesse
We are modeling the introduction of a novel pathogen into a completely susceptible population. In the cells below, I have provided you with the Matlab code for a simple stochastic SIR model, implemented using the "GillespieSSA" function
Simulating the stochastic model 100 times for
Since γ is 0.4 per day, per day
% Define the parameters
beta = 0.36;
gamma = 0.4;
n_sims = 100;
tf = 100; % Time frame changed to 100
% Calculate R0
R0 = beta / gamma
R0 = 0.9000
% Initial state values
initial_state_values = [1000000; 1; 0; 0]; % S, I, R, cum_inc
% Define the propensities and state change matrix
a = @(state) [beta * state(1) * state(2) / 1000000, gamma * state(2)];
nu = [-1, 0; 1, -1; 0, 1; 0, 0];
% Define the Gillespie algorithm function
function [t_values, state_values] = gillespie_ssa(initial_state, a, nu, tf)
t = 0;
state = initial_state(:); % Ensure state is a column vector
t_values = t;
state_values = state';
while t < tf
rates = a(state);
rate_sum = sum(rates);
if rate_sum == 0
break;
end
tau = -log(rand) / rate_sum;
t = t + tau;
r = rand * rate_sum;
cum_sum_rates = cumsum(rates);
reaction_index = find(cum_sum_rates >= r, 1);
state = state + nu(:, reaction_index);
% Update cumulative incidence if infection occurred
if reaction_index == 1
state(4) = state(4) + 1; % Increment cumulative incidence
end
t_values = [t_values; t];
state_values = [state_values; state'];
end
end
% Function to simulate the stochastic model multiple times and plot results
function simulate_stoch_model(beta, gamma, n_sims, tf, initial_state_values, R0, plot_type)
% Define the propensities and state change matrix
a = @(state) [beta * state(1) * state(2) / 1000000, gamma * state(2)];
nu = [-1, 0; 1, -1; 0, 1; 0, 0];
% Set random seed for reproducibility
rng(11);
% Initialize plot
figure;
hold on;
for i = 1:n_sims
[t, output] = gillespie_ssa(initial_state_values, a, nu, tf);
% Check if the simulation had only one step and re-run if necessary
while length(t) == 1
[t, output] = gillespie_ssa(initial_state_values, a, nu, tf);
end
if strcmp(plot_type, 'cumulative_incidence')
plot(t, output(:, 4), 'LineWidth', 2, 'Color', rand(1, 3));
elseif strcmp(plot_type, 'prevalence')
plot(t, output(:, 2), 'LineWidth', 2, 'Color', rand(1, 3));
end
end
xlabel('Time (days)');
if strcmp(plot_type, 'cumulative_incidence')
ylabel('Cumulative Incidence');
ylim([0 inf]);
elseif strcmp(plot_type, 'prevalence')
ylabel('Prevalence of Infection');
ylim([0 50]);
end
title(['Stochastic model output for R0 = ', num2str(R0)]);
subtitle([num2str(n_sims), ' simulations']);
xlim([0 tf]);
grid on;
hold off;
end
% Simulate the model 100 times and plot cumulative incidence
simulate_stoch_model(beta, gamma, n_sims, tf, initial_state_values, R0, 'cumulative_incidence');
% Simulate the model 100 times and plot prevalence
simulate_stoch_model(beta, gamma, n_sims, tf, initial_state_values, R0, 'prevalence');
goc3
goc3
Last activity on 8 Sep 2024

Base case:
Suppose you need to do a computation many times. We are going to assume that this computation cannot be vectorized. The simplest case is to use a for loop:
number_of_elements = 1e6;
test_fcn = @(x) sqrt(x) / x;
tic
for i = 1:number_of_elements
x(i) = test_fcn(i);
end
t_forward = toc;
disp(t_forward + " seconds")
0.10925 seconds
Preallocation:
This can easily be sped up by preallocating the variable that houses results:
tic
x = zeros(number_of_elements, 1);
for i = 1:number_of_elements
x(i) = test_fcn(i);
end
t_forward_prealloc = toc;
disp(t_forward_prealloc + " seconds")
0.035106 seconds
In this example, preallocation speeds up the loop by a factor of about three to four (running in R2024a). Comment below if you get dramatically different results.
disp(sprintf("%.1f", t_forward / t_forward_prealloc))
3.1
Run it in reverse:
Is there a way to skip the explicit preallocation and still be fast? Indeed, there is.
clear x
tic
for i = number_of_elements:-1:1
x(i) = test_fcn(i);
end
t_backward = toc;
disp(t_backward + " seconds")
0.032392 seconds
By running the loop backwards, the preallocation is implicitly performed during the first iteration and the loop runs in about the same time (within statistical noise):
disp(sprintf("%.2f", t_forward_prealloc / t_backward))
1.08
Do you get similar results when running this code? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Beneficial side effect:
Have you ever had to use a for loop to delete elements from a vector? If so, keeping track of index offsets can be tricky, as deleting any element shifts all those that come after. By running the for loop in reverse, you don't need to worry about index offsets while deleting elements.
Many times when ploting, we not only need to set the color of the plot, but also its
transparency, Then how we set the alphaData of colorbar at the same time ?
It seems easy to do so :
data = rand(12,12);
% Transparency range 0-1, .3-1 for better appearance here
AData = rescale(- data, .3, 1);
% Draw an imagesc with numerical control over colormap and transparency
imagesc(data, 'AlphaData',AData);
colormap(jet);
ax = gca;
ax.DataAspectRatio = [1,1,1];
ax.TickDir = 'out';
ax.Box = 'off';
% get colorbar object
CBarHdl = colorbar;
pause(1e-16)
% Modify the transparency of the colorbar
CData = CBarHdl.Face.Texture.CData;
ALim = [min(min(AData)), max(max(AData))];
CData(4,:) = uint8(255.*rescale(1:size(CData, 2), ALim(1), ALim(2)));
CBarHdl.Face.Texture.ColorType = 'TrueColorAlpha';
CBarHdl.Face.Texture.CData = CData;
But !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We cannot preserve the changes when saving them as images :
It seems that when saving plots, the `Texture` will be refresh, but the `Face` will not :
however, object Face only have 4 colors to change(The four corners of a quadrilateral), how
can we set more colors ??
`Face` is a quadrilateral object, and we can change the `VertexData` to draw more than one little quadrilaterals:
data = rand(12,12);
% Transparency range 0-1, .3-1 for better appearance here
AData = rescale(- data, .3, 1);
%Draw an imagesc with numerical control over colormap and transparency
imagesc(data, 'AlphaData',AData);
colormap(jet);
ax = gca;
ax.DataAspectRatio = [1,1,1];
ax.TickDir = 'out';
ax.Box = 'off';
% get colorbar object
CBarHdl = colorbar;
pause(1e-16)
% Modify the transparency of the colorbar
CData = CBarHdl.Face.Texture.CData;
ALim = [min(min(AData)), max(max(AData))];
CData(4,:) = uint8(255.*rescale(1:size(CData, 2), ALim(1), ALim(2)));
warning off
CBarHdl.Face.ColorType = 'TrueColorAlpha';
VertexData = CBarHdl.Face.VertexData;
tY = repmat((1:size(CData,2))./size(CData,2), [4,1]);
tY1 = tY(:).'; tY2 = tY - tY(1,1); tY2(3:4,:) = 0; tY2 = tY2(:).';
tM1 = [tY1.*0 + 1; tY1; tY1.*0 + 1];
tM2 = [tY1.*0; tY2; tY1.*0];
CBarHdl.Face.VertexData = repmat(VertexData, [1,size(CData,2)]).*tM1 + tM2;
CBarHdl.Face.ColorData = reshape(repmat(CData, [4,1]), 4, []);
The higher the value, the more transparent it becomes
data = rand(12,12);
AData = rescale(- data, .3, 1);
imagesc(data, 'AlphaData',AData);
colormap(jet);
ax = gca;
ax.DataAspectRatio = [1,1,1];
ax.TickDir = 'out';
ax.Box = 'off';
CBarHdl = colorbar;
pause(1e-16)
CData = CBarHdl.Face.Texture.CData;
ALim = [min(min(AData)), max(max(AData))];
CData(4,:) = uint8(255.*rescale(size(CData, 2):-1:1, ALim(1), ALim(2)));
warning off
CBarHdl.Face.ColorType = 'TrueColorAlpha';
VertexData = CBarHdl.Face.VertexData;
tY = repmat((1:size(CData,2))./size(CData,2), [4,1]);
tY1 = tY(:).'; tY2 = tY - tY(1,1); tY2(3:4,:) = 0; tY2 = tY2(:).';
tM1 = [tY1.*0 + 1; tY1; tY1.*0 + 1];
tM2 = [tY1.*0; tY2; tY1.*0];
CBarHdl.Face.VertexData = repmat(VertexData, [1,size(CData,2)]).*tM1 + tM2;
CBarHdl.Face.ColorData = reshape(repmat(CData, [4,1]), 4, []);
More transparent in the middle
data = rand(12,12) - .5;
AData = rescale(abs(data), .1, .9);
imagesc(data, 'AlphaData',AData);
colormap(jet);
ax = gca;
ax.DataAspectRatio = [1,1,1];
ax.TickDir = 'out';
ax.Box = 'off';
CBarHdl = colorbar;
pause(1e-16)
CData = CBarHdl.Face.Texture.CData;
ALim = [min(min(AData)), max(max(AData))];
CData(4,:) = uint8(255.*rescale(abs((1:size(CData, 2)) - (1 + size(CData, 2))/2), ALim(1), ALim(2)));
warning off
CBarHdl.Face.ColorType = 'TrueColorAlpha';
VertexData = CBarHdl.Face.VertexData;
tY = repmat((1:size(CData,2))./size(CData,2), [4,1]);
tY1 = tY(:).'; tY2 = tY - tY(1,1); tY2(3:4,:) = 0; tY2 = tY2(:).';
tM1 = [tY1.*0 + 1; tY1; tY1.*0 + 1];
tM2 = [tY1.*0; tY2; tY1.*0];
CBarHdl.Face.VertexData = repmat(VertexData, [1,size(CData,2)]).*tM1 + tM2;
CBarHdl.Face.ColorData = reshape(repmat(CData, [4,1]), 4, []);
The code will work if the plot have AlphaData property
data = peaks(30);
AData = rescale(data, .2, 1);
surface(data, 'FaceAlpha','flat','AlphaData',AData);
colormap(jet(100));
ax = gca;
ax.DataAspectRatio = [1,1,1];
ax.TickDir = 'out';
ax.Box = 'off';
view(3)
CBarHdl = colorbar;
pause(1e-16)
CData = CBarHdl.Face.Texture.CData;
ALim = [min(min(AData)), max(max(AData))];
CData(4,:) = uint8(255.*rescale(1:size(CData, 2), ALim(1), ALim(2)));
warning off
CBarHdl.Face.ColorType = 'TrueColorAlpha';
VertexData = CBarHdl.Face.VertexData;
tY = repmat((1:size(CData,2))./size(CData,2), [4,1]);
tY1 = tY(:).'; tY2 = tY - tY(1,1); tY2(3:4,:) = 0; tY2 = tY2(:).';
tM1 = [tY1.*0 + 1; tY1; tY1.*0 + 1];
tM2 = [tY1.*0; tY2; tY1.*0];
CBarHdl.Face.VertexData = repmat(VertexData, [1,size(CData,2)]).*tM1 + tM2;
CBarHdl.Face.ColorData = reshape(repmat(CData, [4,1]), 4, []);
Hans Scharler
Hans Scharler
Last activity on 31 May 2024

Spring is here in Natick and the tulips are blooming! While tulips appear only briefly here in Massachusetts, they provide a lot of bright and diverse colors and shapes. To celebrate this cheerful flower, here's some code to create your own tulip!
How to leave feedback on a doc page
Leaving feedback is a two-step process. At the bottom of most pages in the MATLAB documentation is a star rating.
Start by selecting a star that best answers the question. After selecting a star rating, an edit box appears where you can offer specific feedback.
When you press "Submit" you'll see the confirmation dialog below. You cannot go back and edit your content, although you can refresh the page to go through that process again.
Tips on leaving feedback
  • Be productive. The reader should clearly understand what action you'd like to see, what was unclear, what you think needs work, or what areas were really helpful.
  • Positive feedback is also helpful. By nature, feedback often focuses on suggestions for changes but it also helps to know what was clear and what worked well.
  • Point to specific areas of the page. This helps the reader to narrow the focus of the page to the area described by your feedback.
What happens to that feedback?
Before working at MathWorks I often left feedback on documentation pages but I never knew what happens after that. One day in 2021 I shared my speculation on the process:
> That feedback is received by MathWorks Gnomes which are never seen nor heard but visit the MathWorks documentation team at night while they are sleeping and whisper selected suggestions into their ears to manipulate their dreams. Occassionally this causes them to wake up with a Eureka moment that leads to changes in the documentation.
I'd like to let you in on the secret which is much less fanciful. Feedback left in the star rating and edit box are collected and periodically reviewed by the doc writers who look for trends on highly trafficked pages and finer grain feedback on less visited pages. Your feedback is important and often results in improvements.
Chen Lin
Chen Lin
Last activity on 9 Jun 2024

Drumlin Farm has welcomed MATLAMB, named in honor of MathWorks, among ten adorable new lambs this season!
David
David
Last activity on 23 May 2024

A colleague said that you can search the Help Center using the phrase 'Introduced in' followed by a release version. Such as, 'Introduced in R2022a'. Doing this yeilds search results specific for that release.
Seems pretty handy so I thought I'd share.
Bringing the beauty of MathWorks Natick's tulips to life through code!
Remix challenge: create and share with us your new breeds of MATLAB tulips!
I found this plot of words said by different characters on the US version of The Office sitcom. There's a sparkline for each character from pilot to finale episode.
A high school student called for help with this physics problem:
  • Car A moves with constant velocity v.
  • Car B starts to move when Car A passes through the point P.
  • Car B undergoes...
  • uniform acc. motion from P to Q.
  • uniform velocity motion from Q to R.
  • uniform acc. motion from R to S.
  • Car A and B pass through the point R simultaneously.
  • Car A and B arrive at the point S simultaneously.
Q1. When car A passes the point Q, which is moving faster?
Q2. Solve the time duration for car B to move from P to Q using L and v.
Q3. Magnitude of acc. of car B from P to Q, and from R to S: which is bigger?
Well, it can be solved with a series of tedious equations. But... how about this?
Code below:
%% get images and prepare stuffs
figure(WindowStyle="docked"),
ax1 = subplot(2,1,1);
hold on, box on
ax1.XTick = [];
ax1.YTick = [];
A = plot(0, 1, 'ro', MarkerSize=10, MarkerFaceColor='r');
B = plot(0, 0, 'bo', MarkerSize=10, MarkerFaceColor='b');
[carA, ~, alphaA] = imread('https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2013/07/12/11/58/car-145008_960_720.png');
[carB, ~, alphaB] = imread('https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2014/04/03/10/54/car-311712_960_720.png');
carA = imrotate(imresize(carA, 0.1), -90);
carB = imrotate(imresize(carB, 0.1), 180);
alphaA = imrotate(imresize(alphaA, 0.1), -90);
alphaB = imrotate(imresize(alphaB, 0.1), 180);
carA = imagesc(carA, AlphaData=alphaA, XData=[-0.1, 0.1], YData=[0.9, 1.1]);
carB = imagesc(carB, AlphaData=alphaB, XData=[-0.1, 0.1], YData=[-0.1, 0.1]);
txtA = text(0, 0.85, 'A', FontSize=12);
txtB = text(0, 0.17, 'B', FontSize=12);
yline(1, 'r--')
yline(0, 'b--')
xline(1, 'k--')
xline(2, 'k--')
text(1, -0.2, 'Q', FontSize=20, HorizontalAlignment='center')
text(2, -0.2, 'R', FontSize=20, HorizontalAlignment='center')
% legend('A', 'B') % this make the animation slow. why?
xlim([0, 3])
ylim([-.3, 1.3])
%% axes2: plots velocity graph
ax2 = subplot(2,1,2);
box on, hold on
xlabel('t'), ylabel('v')
vA = plot(0, 1, 'r.-');
vB = plot(0, 0, 'b.-');
xline(1, 'k--')
xline(2, 'k--')
xlim([0, 3])
ylim([-.3, 1.8])
p1 = patch([0, 0, 0, 0], [0, 1, 1, 0], [248, 209, 188]/255, ...
EdgeColor = 'none', ...
FaceAlpha = 0.3);
%% solution
v = 1; % car A moves with constant speed.
L = 1; % distances of P-Q, Q-R, R-S
% acc. of car B for three intervals
a(1) = 9*v^2/8/L;
a(2) = 0;
a(3) = -1;
t_BatQ = sqrt(2*L/a(1)); % time when car B arrives at Q
v_B2 = a(1) * t_BatQ; % speed of car B between Q-R
%% patches for velocity graph
p2 = patch([t_BatQ, t_BatQ, t_BatQ, t_BatQ], [1, 1, v_B2, v_B2], ...
[248, 209, 188]/255, ...
EdgeColor = 'none', ...
FaceAlpha = 0.3);
p3 = patch([2, 2, 2, 2], [1, v_B2, v_B2, 1], [194, 234, 179]/255, ...
EdgeColor = 'none', ...
FaceAlpha = 0.3);
%% animation
tt = linspace(0, 3, 2000);
for t = tt
A.XData = v * t;
vA.XData = [vA.XData, t];
vA.YData = [vA.YData, 1];
if t < t_BatQ
B.XData = 1/2 * a(1) * t^2;
vB.XData = [vB.XData, t];
vB.YData = [vB.YData, a(1) * t];
p1.XData = [0, t, t, 0];
p1.YData = [0, vB.YData(end), 1, 1];
elseif t >= t_BatQ && t < 2
B.XData = L + (t - t_BatQ) * v_B2;
vB.XData = [vB.XData, t];
vB.YData = [vB.YData, v_B2];
p2.XData = [t_BatQ, t, t, t_BatQ];
p2.YData = [1, 1, vB.YData(end), vB.YData(end)];
else
B.XData = 2*L + v_B2 * (t - 2) + 1/2 * a(3) * (t-2)^2;
vB.XData = [vB.XData, t];
vB.YData = [vB.YData, v_B2 + a(3) * (t - 2)];
p3.XData = [2, t, t, 2];
p3.YData = [1, 1, vB.YData(end), v_B2];
end
txtA.Position(1) = A.XData(end);
txtB.Position(1) = B.XData(end);
carA.XData = A.XData(end) + [-.1, .1];
carB.XData = B.XData(end) + [-.1, .1];
drawnow
end
From Alpha Vantage's website: API Documentation | Alpha Vantage
Try using the built-in Matlab function webread(URL)... for example:
% copy a URL from the examples on the site
URL = 'https://www.alphavantage.co/query?function=TIME_SERIES_DAILY&symbol=IBM&apikey=demo'
% or use the pattern to create one
tickers = [{'IBM'} {'SPY'} {'DJI'} {'QQQ'}]; i = 1;
URL = ...
['https://www.alphavantage.co/query?function=TIME_SERIES_DAILY_ADJUSTED&outputsize=full&symbol=', ...
+ tickers{i}, ...
+ '&apikey=***Put Your API Key here***'];
X = webread(URL);
You can access any of the data available on the site as per the Alpha Vantage documentation using these two lines of code but with different designations for the requested data as per the documentation.
It's fun!