How can I get more information on MATLAB?

If you know the name of the function you want help on you can use the matlab help command.

        >> help           % lists the names of all Directories in the
                          % MATLABPATH search path
        >> help dir_name  % lists contents of directory dir_name, if 
                          % dir_name is a directory in the MATLABPATH
                          % and contains a Contents.m file
        >> help fname     % Shows the help message for a particular function

The command "more on" sets matlab to pause between screenfuls of text, rather than scrolling it beyond view. (Use spacebar to advance a page, RETURN to advance a line, "q" to exit from the item being displayed.) For example, typing "help fft" gives:

>> help fft

 FFT    Discrete Fourier transform.
        FFT(X) is the discrete Fourier transform of vector X.  If the
        length of X is a power of two, a fast radix-2 fast-Fourier
        transform algorithm is used.  If the length of X is not a
        power of two, a slower non-power-of-two algorithm is employed.
        FFT(X,N) is the N-point FFT, padded with zeros if X has less
        than N points and truncated if it has more.
        If X is a matrix, the FFT operation is applied to each column.

        See also IFFT, FFT2, IFFT2, FFTSHIFT.

If you are unsure of the function name, you can try to find the name using the Matlab "lookfor" command. This command does a keyword search on the first comment line of each .m file in the MATLABPATH, and may take some time to finish. (The switch "-all" can be used to search through the entire first comment block, but this will lengthen the search.) For example
```
        >> lookfor cartesian

	CART2POL Transform Cartesian to polar coordinates.
	CART2SPH Transform Cartesian to spherical coordinates.
	POL2CART Transform polar to Cartesian coordinates.
	SPH2CART Transform spherical to Cartesian coordinates.
```
The MathWorks' web-based "Help Desk" includes a full documentation set in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format, a searchable command index, and links to other information. It can be started from matlab:
```
      >> helpdesk 
```
or from Athena
```
      athena% add matlab; matlabdoc 
```
and it will open up in your web browser.

There is a "Matlab on Athena" document (AC-71) available on the web at http://web.mit.edu/olh/Matlab/Matlab.html. SIPB also puts out an "Inessential Matlab" document.