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I have posted two files, test.m and vdpol.m that are the solution to the Chapter 2 Computer problem. Save these to your directory (using the same names for now) and start up matlab (just type matlab on unix). Once in matlab type the command "test" and matlab will integrate one of the differential equations you want to solve. Do the commands "plot(t,x(:,1))" and "plot(t,x(:,2))" to see the solutions. Look at vdpol.m - the % character comments out different equations to solve. By commenting out the one I left uncommented, and uncommenting the others one by one you can compute all the solutions to this problem by just re-running test again. Note that the important function here is "ode23" in test.m. This is Matlab's numerical differential equation solver. Read the manual page for this - "help ode23" to learn more.

The fourth homework assignment has been posted.
You can view and save the matlab files I handed out in class yesterday. See the Homework 4 Home Page for details.
A reminder that you can download the Matlab 4.1 primer from ftp.umbc.edu. I have now put a copy in /pub/users/strow/p321 called primer41.ps. I may put other files here in the future for this class. Once you have saved this file on your UNIX disk space, you can print it with the command "lpr -Pacspsdup primer41.ps"

Download my Matlab routine blowup.m to your account and use it to zoom in on Matlab plots.