Extra tips on sparse matrices in Matlab

We use some simple examples of sparse matrices in the course. They come from finite difference approximations of twodimensional partial differential equations.

A twodimensional grid is generated by the routine
G=numgrid(R,ne)
where R is the region chosen and ne is the length of one edge.

The call
A=delsq(G);
gives the matrix of a five point finite difference approximation of the Laplace operator. Its size is n the number of points in the region R used when calling numgrid.

I have made a routine v2g that takes a n vector and distributes it over a grid generated by numgrid. This is usable for showing data and solutions. See spexample.m where a simple problem is solved.