poster
2025-07-13, 08:02
In 1988, while I was with Ardent Computer in Silicon Valley, I gave a talk that previewed MATLAB graphics. The title was "Pictures of Matrices". At the time, a mathematician friend of mine asked.
Why would anyone want pictures of matrices?My response is the graphics demonstrations that we have done over the years. Here is a baker's dozen of my favorite examples.
Contents
Vibes (#1050b54b-03cc-4651-a92f-08b47bce1aba)
Pitch, Roll and Yaw (#cca646f4-d29d-4f64-8b12-9c8d6868aa07)
Rubiks Cube (#523be0a1-ef64-4117-8827-aadab1aec717)
Eigenwalker (#6c148e13-491e-48c4-8a1f-17bd6e1208ab)
Simulation (#5808e6ab-e3fa-4128-b43b-94218f7d6659)
Sponge (#37dae5b7-d02a-41e0-805c-11d11d1418f8)
Drums (#9916dfbf-68eb-45a6-8e75-695014dcbc68)
Jahnke and Emde (#744ce13d-9dbe-42d9-a2df-f3d6dc3c2548)
Penny (#52de6435-9b73-4c4e-8402-401b64ad6571)
Jordan Form (#3fe4f412-05a9-4faf-823f-321a39baeb80)
Expshow (#c90e69f0-d3f5-4e44-a23a-c7434bffc251)
Eigshow (#b73f8b6f-ac84-4b66-9b08-303afb8eaf13)
Eden (#8cac3156-b0b3-47d7-abf4-653302fc719c)
Vibes
The vibrating L-shaped membrane.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2023/12/13/blog-post-number-300-vibrating-logo/.
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/vibes.gif
Pitch, Roll and Yaw
Studying rotations.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2023/02/10/grafix-users-guide/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/Graphics.png
Rubiks Cube
The world's greatest mathematical puzzle.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2022/04/04/digital-simulation-of-rubiks-cube/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/Qube_simplified.png
Eigenwalker
Principle component analysis of the human gait.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2016/04/11/the-eigenwalker-model-of-the-human-gait/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/walker.gif
Simulation
Simulink at the test track.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2023/09/11/exploring-matrices/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/Simulink.png
Sponge
The Menger sponge is a popular fractal that generalizes Cantor sets and Sierpinski triangles.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2021/12/06/the-menger-sponge-fractal/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/sponge2.png
Drums
Contour plots of isospectral pairs.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2012/08/06/can-one-hear-the-shape-of-a-drum-part-1-eigenvalues/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/drums.png
Jahnke and Emde
Contour plot of the Hankel function, based on a hand drawing in a 1933 book by German mathematicians Eugene Jahnke and Fritz Emde.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2014/12/15/jahnke-and-emde-revisited/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/jahnke.png
Penny
High resolution measurements of the depth of the mold for the United States one cent coin.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2014/03/17/higher-resolution-penny/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/penny.png
Jordan Form
Jordan Canonical Form of the 64-by-64 Redheffer matrix from the MATLAB Gallery (https://www.mathworks.com/help/releases/R2024b/matlab/ref/gallery.html).
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2025/06/12/a-million-dollar-matrix/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/jcf64.png
Expshow
An interactive graphical experiment lets you discover the value of one of the most important numerical quantities in mathematics.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2015/07/27/discover-e-with-a-graphical-experiment/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/expshow.gif
Eigshow
One of my all-time favorite MATLAB examples is eigshow.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2013/07/08/eigshow-week-1
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/eigshowp.gif
Eden
This sketch of the MathWorks Logo was made by Eden Rajapakse when she was ten years old. Her blog post has received more "likes" than any other post.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2021/12/23/a-new-view-of-our-logo/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/Eden.png
Get the MATLAB code (requires JavaScript) (javascript:grabCode_2ccfc7657e20451c9a4b077ee478fbf0())
Published with MATLAB® R2024b
More... (https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2025/07/12/my-favorite-matlab-demos/?s_tid=feedtopost)
Why would anyone want pictures of matrices?My response is the graphics demonstrations that we have done over the years. Here is a baker's dozen of my favorite examples.
Contents
Vibes (#1050b54b-03cc-4651-a92f-08b47bce1aba)
Pitch, Roll and Yaw (#cca646f4-d29d-4f64-8b12-9c8d6868aa07)
Rubiks Cube (#523be0a1-ef64-4117-8827-aadab1aec717)
Eigenwalker (#6c148e13-491e-48c4-8a1f-17bd6e1208ab)
Simulation (#5808e6ab-e3fa-4128-b43b-94218f7d6659)
Sponge (#37dae5b7-d02a-41e0-805c-11d11d1418f8)
Drums (#9916dfbf-68eb-45a6-8e75-695014dcbc68)
Jahnke and Emde (#744ce13d-9dbe-42d9-a2df-f3d6dc3c2548)
Penny (#52de6435-9b73-4c4e-8402-401b64ad6571)
Jordan Form (#3fe4f412-05a9-4faf-823f-321a39baeb80)
Expshow (#c90e69f0-d3f5-4e44-a23a-c7434bffc251)
Eigshow (#b73f8b6f-ac84-4b66-9b08-303afb8eaf13)
Eden (#8cac3156-b0b3-47d7-abf4-653302fc719c)
Vibes
The vibrating L-shaped membrane.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2023/12/13/blog-post-number-300-vibrating-logo/.
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/vibes.gif
Pitch, Roll and Yaw
Studying rotations.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2023/02/10/grafix-users-guide/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/Graphics.png
Rubiks Cube
The world's greatest mathematical puzzle.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2022/04/04/digital-simulation-of-rubiks-cube/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/Qube_simplified.png
Eigenwalker
Principle component analysis of the human gait.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2016/04/11/the-eigenwalker-model-of-the-human-gait/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/walker.gif
Simulation
Simulink at the test track.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2023/09/11/exploring-matrices/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/Simulink.png
Sponge
The Menger sponge is a popular fractal that generalizes Cantor sets and Sierpinski triangles.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2021/12/06/the-menger-sponge-fractal/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/sponge2.png
Drums
Contour plots of isospectral pairs.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2012/08/06/can-one-hear-the-shape-of-a-drum-part-1-eigenvalues/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/drums.png
Jahnke and Emde
Contour plot of the Hankel function, based on a hand drawing in a 1933 book by German mathematicians Eugene Jahnke and Fritz Emde.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2014/12/15/jahnke-and-emde-revisited/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/jahnke.png
Penny
High resolution measurements of the depth of the mold for the United States one cent coin.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2014/03/17/higher-resolution-penny/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/penny.png
Jordan Form
Jordan Canonical Form of the 64-by-64 Redheffer matrix from the MATLAB Gallery (https://www.mathworks.com/help/releases/R2024b/matlab/ref/gallery.html).
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2025/06/12/a-million-dollar-matrix/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/jcf64.png
Expshow
An interactive graphical experiment lets you discover the value of one of the most important numerical quantities in mathematics.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2015/07/27/discover-e-with-a-graphical-experiment/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/expshow.gif
Eigshow
One of my all-time favorite MATLAB examples is eigshow.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2013/07/08/eigshow-week-1
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/eigshowp.gif
Eden
This sketch of the MathWorks Logo was made by Eden Rajapakse when she was ten years old. Her blog post has received more "likes" than any other post.
https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2021/12/23/a-new-view-of-our-logo/
http://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/files/Eden.png
Get the MATLAB code (requires JavaScript) (javascript:grabCode_2ccfc7657e20451c9a4b077ee478fbf0())
Published with MATLAB® R2024b
More... (https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2025/07/12/my-favorite-matlab-demos/?s_tid=feedtopost)