a list of MATLAB functions that students might want to use : 


(*) "cond(A, 1)" returns the condition number of A in 1-norm
    (Large condition numbers indicate a nearly singular matrix.)

(*) "inv(X)" is the inverse of the square matrix X.
    A warning message is printed if X is badly scaled or
    nearly singular.

(*) "norm(V,p)" returns the p-norm of V
    For example:
    "norm(X,2)" returns the 2-norm of X
    "norm(X,Inf)" returns the infinity norm of X

(*) "rand([N,N])"  
   returns an N-by-N matrix containing pseudorandom values drawn
   from the standard uniform distribution on the open interval(0,1)


(*) "randi([IMIN, IMAX],N)" returns an N-by-N matrix containing pseudorandom
    integer values drawn from the discrete uniform distribution on IMIN:IMAX.


(*) "randn([N, N])" which returns an N-by-N matrix containing pseudorandom values drawn
    from the standard normal distribution.


(*) "\"   Backslash or left division
    x = A\b is the solution to the equation A*x = b
      which is roughly the same as x = inv(A)*b