A Brief Introduction to MATLAB offers new users a clear and accessible starting point for learning one of the world's most widely used technical computing environments. Taken from Peter I. Kattan's bestselling book MATLAB for Beginners: A Gentle Approach, this introductory chapter is designed for students, engineers, scientists, and anyone encountering MATLAB for the first time. With a gentle, practical approach, it introduces readers to MATLAB and provides the foundation needed to begin exploring numerical computation, engineering applications, and scientific problem solving. Offered as a free introductory ebook, it also gives readers an opportunity to experience the teaching style and approach of the complete book before moving on to more advanced MATLAB topics. This chapter is approximately 20 pages including the solutions to the exercises.