Matlab Homework that im struggling with

OK, this is my homework asignment that I am working on and having trouble getting started. I believe I can write code to solve using cramers rule however, I dont know how to prompt the user to enter the number of equations/unknowns, between 2 and 5. Then Im not sure how to prompt the user again for them to enter the constants and coefficents for each equation. If yall could give me any insight on how to do this I would be very grateful.

Answer 1

[Jim Riggs]

To prompt a user to enter a value, try:

x = input('Enter the number of equations (from 2 to 5):  \n')

[Jacob Brackett]

Ok, thanks now how would I go about writing code that would use their input to then prompt them again to enter the coefficents and constants for each equations. I thought this was how i needed to do the first part but how to connect this part with the second part is giving me the issues.

[Jim Riggs]

neq = input('Enter the number of equations (from 2 to 5):  \n')  % number of equations
c = nan(neq,1);  % create vector c for the coefficients
for n=1:neq
    msg = sprintf('Enter coefficient %i: ',n); % create a prompt string 
    c(n) = input([msg '\n']);  % prompt the user and store the value in c
end

The '\n' inserts a "new line" character, and the square brackets concatenates the msg string with the new line character. This causes the input prompt to be on the line following the text prompt.

If you dont like this format, you can leave out the new line character. Try it like this:

neq = input('Enter the number of equations (from 2 to 5):  ')  % number of equations
c = nan(neq,1);  % create vector c for the coefficients
for n=1:neq
    msg = sprintf('Enter coefficient %i: ',n); % create a prompt string 
    c(n) = input(msg);  % prompt the user for the coefficients and store the value in c
end

[John D'Errico]

@Jacob - If you will allow input like that, then you will need to write custom code that can parse it. I will suggest that task is well beyond your current capabilities, if you don't even know how to use input. Why? Because you will need to write code that can find terms like 4x, or perhaps 3.14y, and recognize there is a missing multiplication in there. Worse, how about an expression like this: 2x + 1e4y = 1.2e-3.

I would strongly suggest you limit your problem, to be able to handle the case where the equations are entered in a simple way as just a numeric vector of coefficients. Learn to walk before you try to run.

[Jacob Brackett]

Ok, @John D'Errico how would you suggest doing it. This is my first semester of coding and I'm still learning the basics.