Hopefully, a person could start using the MATLAB Pole-Zero editor without any need to read these help files. Features were designed to be intuitive and familiar to those with basic computer experience. If not send me mail by clicking on my name in the Overview section!!

For those who like to read the manual, this section will give you the minimum you need to get started and be comfortable with the use of the GUI.

First, if you have not already done so, follow the information given in the Installation section to install and start the MATLAB Pole-Zero GUI.

1. To begin with, we need to decide on whether we need to add a pole or zero to the plot. This can be done by either clicking one of 'PP'/'ZZ'/'PZ' push-buttton or 'Add pair' under the 'Edit' pulldown menu.
2. Once the choice of pole/zero has been made, clicking on the 'Pole-Zero plot' window, will place a pole/zero at the click location.
   
   • By default a conjugate pair is added.
   • Additional pole/zero at zero is added to have equal number of poles and zeros.
   • If the pole being added is placed outside the unit circle, then the region outside the unit circle turns 'pink' in color, indicating unstable system performance.
3. When a pole/zero is added, you will be able to see their co-ordinates on the 'Pole Location' or 'Zero Location' edit boxes.
4. At the same time, you will also be able to see the changes in 'Magnitude response', 'Phase response' and 'Impulse response' of the system.
5. You can select 'Click Enable' and then be able to move already placed poles/zeros within the 'Pole-Zero Plot'. To do this select and hold the desired pole/zero using your mouse and move it to the new desired location. You can see the various responses being updated as you move the pole/zero around.
6. If you decide to move single pole/zero instead of moving a conjugate-pair, you can do so by clicking on 'Unlink' push button and then selecting the pole/zero to be unlinked.
7. In addition to specifying the location of pole-zeros by clicking on the Pole-Zero plot, the editor also provides other way of placing Poles/Zeros. This can be done by:
   • Editing the Pole/Zero location in the list box, by selecting a Pole/Zero from the list and clicking on the 'Edit' button (or)
   • Providing the filter coefficients through an edit box. To do this click on the 'Filter coefficients' push-button at the top of the tool, to enter the numerator and denominator coefficients of the system.

NOTE: All of the push-buttons, have an equivalent entry in the pull-down menus, and provide the same functionality.

That's it!  You now understand the basics of how to use the MATLAB Pole-Zero GUI.  For a more in depth description of the Pole-Zero theory, see the Theory section.  The Controls and Menus sections provide a description of all the elements in the user interface.