Animation basics in MATLAB - Interactive Code Practice

Practice - 5 Tasks

1fill in blank

easy

Complete the code to create a simple plot animation using a loop.

MATLAB

for k = 1:10
    plot(k, k^2, 'o');
    [1];
end

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Agrid on

Bhold off

Cclf

Dpause(0.5)

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using hold off inside the loop clears the plot.

Using clf clears the figure and removes previous points.

The pause(0.5) command pauses the loop for half a second, allowing the plot to update and create an animation effect.

2fill in blank

medium

Complete the code to keep all points visible during the animation.

MATLAB

figure;
hold [1];
for k = 1:10
    plot(k, k^2, 'o');
    pause(0.3);
end

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Aon

Btoggle

Coff

Dclear

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using hold off erases previous points each iteration.

Using hold on keeps all plotted points visible, so the animation shows all points accumulating.

3fill in blank

hard

Fix the error in the code to update the plot correctly inside the loop.

MATLAB

x = 0:0.1:2*pi;
y = sin(x);
for k = 1:length(x)
    plot(x(1:k), y(1:k));
    [1];
end

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Ahold off

Bclf

Cdrawnow

Dpause(0.1)

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using pause alone may slow animation but not force immediate redraw.

Using clf clears the figure and removes the plot.

The drawnow command forces MATLAB to update the figure window immediately, which is necessary for smooth animation.

4fill in blank

hard

Fill both blanks to create an animated plot that updates y-values in a loop.

MATLAB

x = linspace(0, 2*pi, 100);
fig = figure;
for k = 1:50
    y = sin(x + [1]);
    plot(x, y);
    [2];
end

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Ak*0.1

Bpause(0.05)

Cdrawnow

Dk+1

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using pause without drawnow may delay but not update plot immediately.

Using k+1 in the first blank does not create a smooth phase shift.

Adding k*0.1 shifts the sine wave over time. drawnow updates the plot immediately for animation.

5fill in blank

hard

Fill all three blanks to create a smooth animation of a moving point.

MATLAB

t = linspace(0, 4*pi, 200);
fig = figure;
for i = 1:length(t)
    x = cos(t(i));
    y = sin(t(i));
    plot(x, y, 'ro', 'MarkerSize', [1]);
    axis([-1.5 1.5 -1.5 1.5]);
    [2];
    [3];
end

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A10

Bdrawnow

Cpause(0.02)

D5

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using too large marker size makes the point hard to see clearly.

Omitting drawnow causes the plot not to update smoothly.

Omitting pause makes animation too fast to see.

Setting marker size to 5 makes the point visible but not too big. drawnow updates the plot immediately, and pause(0.02) slows the loop for smooth animation.