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Use of MATLAB in teaching the fundamentals of random variables

Published:30 November 2008Publication History
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Abstract

The way engineering is being taught has changed in recent years with the introduction of commercial and educational software thus allowing a better understanding of the subject matter and increased teaching efficiency. This paper presents the educational software package designed to work in PCs and provides an attractive way to introduce the fundamentals of random variables. The software can be used as a complement to theoretical classes or alone as a self-study tool. The package was implemented in MATLAB and uses MATLAB™ tool "makeshow" which allows the students to create interactive slideshows without building their own graphic interface. The software is easy to use and is in accordance with the established standards, mouse operations, icon menus, etc. The demos include Probability Density Function (PDF), and Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF), normal, lognormal, exponential, Rayleigh and Rician random variables. The package also demonstrates how to generate the desired random sequence, how to examine its characteristics and how to estimate its PDF and CDF.

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    • Published in

      cover image ACM SIGCSE Bulletin
      ACM SIGCSE Bulletin  Volume 40, Issue 4
      December 2008
      214 pages
      ISSN:0097-8418
      DOI:10.1145/1473195
      Issue’s Table of Contents

      Copyright © 2008 Authors

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      Association for Computing Machinery

      New York, NY, United States

      Publication History

      • Published: 30 November 2008

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