SAMS Subject Classification Number: 16

The Central University of Technology (CUT) is in possession of a MATLAB total academic headcount (TAC) license, enabling students to download the MATLAB and Simulink software. This presents a teaching intervention not usually associated with engineering mathematics at universities of technology. Students can interact with MATLAB software on three platforms, the Command window (plain coding), Live script editor and Simulink of which the last two were found to be best suited to the blending of coding and traditional engineering mathematics especially when face-to-face lectures are compromised. MATLAB live script allows hands on interactive coding together with traditional subject content with instant visualization of solutions. Although Simulink, a graphic programming environment which uses a set of blocks to simulate dynamical systems, is not available on Live script, its uncomplicated and pleasing presentation makes it a student favourite. Simulink is useful when reverse engineering system outputs back to the equations they originated from, an aspect usually not addressed in classic mathematics teaching. Live script manuals for all pre graduate engineering mathematics courses were compiled between 2020 and 2022 with additions made as student interaction with code, theory and Simulink necessitated. All traditional mathematics topics such as vector theory, wave theory, linear algebra, complex numbers, differential calculus, integration, basic statistics, Fourier series, Laplace transform, differential equations and numerical methods are covered in the live script manuals. There are a number of plain code text books demonstrating MATLAB coding with engineering mathematics but they do not allow interaction and they are not pitched at pre graduate engineering students at universities of technology. The Live script manuals provide a pleasant non-intrusive way to not only make mathematics useful, but they also serve as an introduction to plain coding for when this is required at post graduate level in their respective engineering disciplines.