hello all, i have a school project to

"Build a professional quality HTML tutorial web site on the use and application of MatLab or MathCAD. Student will provide screen captures, examples, hyperlinks, downloadable documents, etc...Topic must include the use of MatLab or MathCAD to solve some specific engineering problems"

I am not sure where to download matlab/matcad from? any suggestion for a good fairly easy topic(doable in 2days!) relevant to the project as described above are appreciated.
thanks

If you don't know MathCAD, how do you expect to do a tutorial?

its called alternative ways of learning, if u have more questions go ask my prof. post only if can help.

www.google.com

I have to back up *wizard-fred* on this issue. You come to this forum looking for help yet when someone asks you a question you provide a wise ass answer; "its called alternative ways of learning, if u have more questions go ask my prof. post only if can help". What kind of a comment is this?! Show some respect to the guys in this forum!

Now getting back to the point of your project. What do you need help with, your HTML or what kind of topic you're planning on presenting? As far as getting the software, you have to purchase it. I have MathCAD 2001 and that cost $140 at the bookstore. Downloading pirated software online, if you did not know already is purely illegal.

I do not know where your knowledge stands as far as Mathematics, but I would suggest doing a project that involves a 'rate of change', which is fairly simple. For example, simulate an engineering problem that might show the expansion of metals during heating or the level of water rising in a water tank.

In this case, I will use the water tank problem as an example. I will try to explain this as well as I possibly can so try to follow along. Take your data in relation to time, for example 1 inch of rain per hour and get data for at least 24 hours, then graph it. Pull out a polynomial equation or some sort of equation that shows the relationship in your data in relation to time. This can be done with MathCAD and I sure hope you know the command to do this. You'd have to vectorize your data then use the linfit command to pull out the equation.

With this new equation, go ahead and take the derivative (I hope you know how to do this either with MathCAD or with pencil and paper). This derivative shows the rate of change in your data, which of course is the rate of change in the water level in relation to time.

Take your derivative and your original equation and graph them together. Again I am assuming you know the commands to do so. This will show a neat graph and the relationship in the data and how the water level changes over time. We do know according to the Calculus that the derivative by definition is the 'slope of the tangent line to the curve'.

Where the graph of your derivative is tangent or 'touching up against' the graph if your original equation is likely the point where the rate of change begins to either incline or decline. This point may also represent the maximum or minimum point on the graph. This you have to figure out by your graph and your data.

Why do engineers need to know this? Well obviously *bd* they would like to know how big the tank should be and how much stress would be exerted on the exterior walls of a water tank before they build it. Therefore they can accomodate for all possible case scenarios and be prepared for the worse case should it happen.

Hope this helps and I surely hope that you remember to show some respect to the people in this forum. If you need to know about commands you can post a reply here or try searching for MathCAD's website online.

-Rolos

thanks for the wonderful reply ROLOS. I didn't mean to offend wizardfred. I just thought he was trying to be a wise guy. If the question was genuine please accept my apology.

this is what i want to do for my 1st project. this first project is not supposed to be complex or anything just simple and easy. I have to do a second project which is supposed to be advanced in afew weeks. anyway back to what i have planned for this simple project is this:

>TUTORIAL FOR CALCULATING CROSSPRODUCT OF TWO 3D
> VECTORS AND THE ANGLES BETWEEN THEM USING MATLAB.
>
> there would be a table of contents for the tutorial.
>
> *first a brief introduction about matlab and matrices
> in general(hyperlinks will be provided for more
> information).
> *Then i would give give a brief description of the
> matlab GUI(am i using this term acurately?). This would be explained with screen shots.
> *Next i would explain with examples how to store a m*n
> matrix in a variable(the word 'variable' would be
> hyperlinked for beginners).screenshots would also be
> included.
> *then i would introduce functions and .m files both
> supported with examples and sreenshots. downloadable
> .m files would be hyperlinked for the user to
> download.
> *next i would explain how to write functions to
> calculated cross or vector product for two 3D vectors
> and for calculating the angle between those vectors.
> engineering application of vector product would also
> be emphasized here. screenshots, examples and
> downloadable files would be available.
> *there would be a brief intro on how to create a
> plot(again supported with examples and screenshots).
> *Next i would explain in detail how to plot 3D vectors
> and there crossproduct.screenshots and code would be
> provided.
> *finally a conclusion and links for more info would be
> provided.

is all this is possible the way i have described it? i am a newbie to MATLAB so please excuse anything i said that doesn't make sense ;)

I am searching the web right now for things like 'how to write your own function', because i need that to write the functions for finding crossproduct and angles between two vectors. If you have anylinks for this please post them. kindly post links for anything that you think would help me with this project(plotting etc..). THANKYOU!

What you have lined up is very "do-able" for a project. I do not have much insight on many web pages that you could use, I know that MathCAD's help menu is a very reliable source.

I did not mean to take such a tone in my last reply, and no offense taken here. If you are going to write your own function I would suggest using the linfit function, this function takes three parameters of your vectorized matrix data and automatically gives you the function that is 'fit' for your data. Hope this helps.

-Rolos