Analyzing and Visualizing Data with MATLAB

MATLAB^® enables you to analyze and visualize your data in a fraction of the time it would take using spreadsheets or traditional programming languages. It provides a variety of tools that make it simple to import, visualize, process, and analyze your data. MATLAB also makes it easy to share your work with others so they can reproduce and iterate on your results.

You can import data from a variety of sources, including Excel, images, databases, and even external devices. Many files can be imported in an interactive manner, like this one and the import tool lets you specify a subset of data as well as formatting options.

Whenever you use interactive apps like the Import Tool, you’ll be able to auto-generate MATLAB code to capture all the work you did in the app. This makes it easy for your colleagues and your future self to reproduce your results and apply them to new data.

In addition, File I/O functions let you work with data contained in any file format, giving you the most control over reading in or writing out data.

Once your data is in MATLAB, you can use built-in plotting functions to visualize and better understand your data. The MATLAB Toolstrip provides easy access to numerous visualizations that, by default, are filtered to the ones compatible with the data you’ve selected. You can customize these plots using both interactive and programmatic tools.

The MATLAB Plot Gallery showcases MATLAB’s many visualizations, along with examples that you can leverage on your own data.

More often than not, you’ll find that real-world data contains missing values, outliers, and other artifacts that need to be resolved. MATLAB provides built-in functions to process data like smoothing, filtering, interpolation, convolution, and fast Fourier transforms (FFTs). In this example, we’ll use a Live Task which automates the process of smoothing this data. We can easily select from various resolution options, and immediately see the results superimposed on our data.

After your data is cleaned, MATLAB provides you with numerous analysis tools and functions to uncover trends, test assumptions, and build descriptive models. You can augment your analytic capabilities with MATLAB Toolboxes which provide additional tools for many industry- and application-specific tasks, like machine learning, curve and surface fitting, signal processing, and image processing.

For example, classification learner app enables you to test the fitness of various machine learning models against your data. Once you’ve found a model that works well, you can export it to be validated against additional real-world data.

MATLAB makes it easy to share your results with others. If you’re creating functions for other people to use, you can document them so that others can better understand their syntax and what they do.

MATLAB Live Scripts combine MATLAB code with natural reading elements such as formatted text, images, and LaTeX equations so you can tell a story with your work. You can send Live Scripts to other MATLAB users, or export them in a variety of file formats for people who don’t have MATLAB.

MATLAB enables you to leverage built-in tools to import, visualize, process, and analyze your data, along with capabilities to easily share your work with others, and produce code that replicates your work. For more information, return to the MATLAB product page, or check out other videos.