Quad-core Processor

I'm running code involving several large (>300k) matrix operations (mostly multiplying) and 2-D integration. The code is running relatively fast. But now I need to understand why. Is Matlab 2010b taking advantage of my quad-core processor without me explicity architecting the code for a multicore processor? How do I see how many cores Matlab is using?

Answer 1

[Jan]

Modern Matlab version use multiple cores for some commands, e.g. SUM, FILTER, MIN, MAX, and some linear algebra methods. The easiest way to obeserve the core load is the taskmanager in Windows and equivalent tools in Linux.

This may be helpful also: FEX: System Resource Monitor

Answer 2

[Sean de Wolski]

An FYI: Contrary to what you're thinking a 300K matrix really isn't that big for modern day machines. It takes about two seconds on my laptop to create and multiply the following:

x = 1:10000;
y = rand(10000);
A = x*y;

bytes: 800160000

[Matt Fig]

And 9 seconds on my 4 year old laptop. I just ordered a new one that should blow that away!