[Checklist] of Rules for
Homework & Exam Layout
Prof. V. Solo, EE&T, UNSW. 20
20.
Uncommon Rules
General
(G1) Use a few sigificant digits.
Only display #s to 2 or 3 significant digits.
e.g. 2.03 not 2.0347352216975.
(G2) Scale/Normalise!
Scaled/normalised quantities are easier to interpret.
Scaling/normalising helps find errors.
Mfiles
(M1) Split computation and plotting.
mf-c.m does computation;
mf-p.m does plotting - it calls mf-c.m
only mf-c.m is listed in the homework/exam appendix.
Plots/Visualization
(P1) Information to Ink Ratio←maximize it!
See examples below.
(P2) Use Common Vertical & Horizontal Scales
Use the same scales on related plots.
e.g. if system input and output signals are plotted
side-by side they should both be plotted for the same
number of time points.
(P3) Don’t Interpolate Disrete Time
Don’t use ’-’ to plot discrete time signals;
instead use ’0’ or ’x’;
the interpolation is meaningless & misleading.
Web Resources for Visualization
https://www.becomingadatascientist.com
/.../Principles-of-Data-Visualization-for-Expl...
https://github.com/.../Visualizationintroduction/.../Guiding
%20Principles
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/figures-and-charts/
Common Rules
General
(G3) Start each question on a new page.
(G4) Label each page with question #.
(G5) Do not repeat derivations from the lecture notes;
just quote results.
Mfiles
(M2) Mfiles (printed only) go in Appendices.
One mfile appendix for each question.
(M3) Name mfiles - shorter names are better.
(M4) Annotate mfiles.
Write on or in the mfile what each section of it does.
Example. This section of resc.m computes the resid-
uals using the formula ...
(M5) Refer to/explain mfiles.
You do not answer a question by printing out the mfile
and then writing all over it. Instead you answer the
question by means of a discussion, referring to the
mfile (which is in an appendix) to explain where you
got a result from. After referring to the mfile you then
explain briefly what it does.
Example. ’I used ’resc.m’ in appendix 3 to compute
the plot shown in fig 3.3’. resc.m computes the deriva-
tive of the simulated signal using the FIR filter [1 -1].
(M6) Label simulink diagrams + include a title.
Plots/Visualization
(P4) Don’t plot in ’landscape’ mode; it distorts;
use ’portrait’ mode.
(P5) Don’t plot lots of 0s.
e.g. If an impulse response is∼0by lag 25 don’t
plot to lag 100. This compresses the main part of the
impulse response and makes it hard to interpret.
(P6) Label Axes.
Each axis of a graph/plot must have a label.
Use big fonts to make them readable.
(P7) Title Plots.
Every graph/plot must have a title;
including question #. Again use big fonts.
Example. ’Fig 3.1: Plot of acs for Q3(i)’.
(P8) Use ’subplot’
to put related plots on a single page.
This makes it much easier to see patterns.
