There are several ways to define PDE Toolbox coefficients that vary spatially. But, defining the value of the coefficient at every node point, as in the lines where you are getting errors, is not one of them.
One way to define simple coefficients like in your example is simply to replace your two lines with these:
a = 'cos(y)';
f = 'sin(x)';
Defining coefficients as a string expression is documented here:
For more complicated coefficients, it is usually more convenient to define them using a MATLAB function. That approach is documented here:
Bill
