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I'm having trouble graphing using Matlab, and was hoping someone could help. I just want to hand the program a function like $z=x^2-3xy+2$, or whatever, and have Matlab generate a 3-D graph. From the tutorials I've seen online, it seems like this is difficult. Can I not just hand the program that equation and the domain that I want, and have it generate a graph? What code will generate that graph? Thanks!

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I suggest you to use the free software Maxima. – Sigur Aug 17 '12 at 1:12
You've at least tried to read the docs? – Ｊ. M. Aug 17 '12 at 1:21
Yes, I've read the docs. From the examples I've seen, it just seems unnecessarily difficult to generate a graph. – dan Aug 17 '12 at 1:24
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The documentation for meshgrid has an example of creating a 3D graph in three lines of code (two, if you fold the second line into the third). It would be nice to not need to go through the motions of creating a meshgrid, but that's how it is in Matlab. – Rahul Narain Aug 17 '12 at 1:35

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As an example, lets plot the function in the interval $x=[-2;2], y=[-2;2]$. As mentioned in the comments, this can be achieved in Matlab by the code

[X,Y] = meshgrid(-2:.2:2, -2:.2:2);                                
Z = X.^2 - 3*X.*Y + 2;
surf(X,Y,Z)

It can also be done in Maple by the following code

plot3d(x^2 - 3*x*y, x=-2..2, y=-2..2);

which is probably more intuitive. At last, one can use Wolfram Alpha.

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thanks for the help. I used Maple at my last job, and so far I find it much more intuitive than Matlab. – dan Aug 17 '12 at 1:51

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