This book is primarily intended for first semester engineering students who are looking for an introduction to the MATLAB and Simulink environment oriented toward the knowledge and requirements of beginning students. Thus, only a few basic ideas from mathematics, in particular ordinary differential equations, programming, and physics are required to understand the contents of this book. This knowledge is usually acquired in the first two or three semesters of a technical engineering degree program.

Under these conditions, this book should also be of interest for practicing engineers who are looking for a brief introduction to MATLAB and Simulink. In the case of this book, engineers will have the knowledge required to understand it years after they have finished their studies.

The MathWorks periodically updates MATLAB and Simulink software. See Appendix C for information about R2007b, the release made in September, 2007. The examples in this book are compatible with the new version.