W1Q1: Raise a number to a power

% Option 1 - Hands down the simplest 
v=2.^[0:8];

% Option 2 - Too much hand-typing going on
a= [0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8]; v=2.^a;

% Option 3 - Better than 2, consider whether you'll use v1 again
v1= 0:8; v=2.^v1;

% Option 4 - Hard to generalize to other powers
v=pow2(0:8) 

% Option 5 - Overkill on the linspace
v=linspace(2,2,9).^linspace(0,8,9);

% Option 6 - Also slight overkill on getting a bunch of "2"s
v1=ones(1,9)*2; v=v1.^(0:8);

% Option 7 - Not taking advantage of vectorization
v=zeros(1,9);
powers=0:1:8;
for ii=1:1:9;
    v(1,ii)=2.^powers(ii);
end

% Option 8 - Waaaay too much error-prone typing!
v=[2^0 2^1 2^2 2^3 2^4 2^5 2^6 2^7 2^8]

% Option 9 - Sure, but the ^ does beat the "power"
v=[power(2,0:1:8)];


W1Q2: Plot a wind direction vector

Draw yourself a diagram, and remember how to take a cosine and a sine!
Many people got this wrong on the mathematics, though not on the
coding.

My solution would have been
adeg=60;
y=cos(adeg*pi/180);
x=sin(adeg*pi/180);

Some people used "cosd" and "sind", which you can feed degrees instead
of radians. That's fine, a matter of choice, I suppose. Though I like
radians best.
 
Here's an alternative to switch cosine and sine, not particularly simpler

adeg=60;
y=sin((90-adeg)*pi/180);
x=cos((90-adeg)*pi/180);

And here's a very contorted way to do the same thing:

% angle of clockwise displacement from vertical
adeg = 60;
% starting point, vertical axis
vertaxisd = 90;
% calculate vertical component of wind vector from origin
y = sind(vertaxisd - adeg);
% calculate horizontal component of wind vector from origin
x = cosd(vertaxisd - adeg);

% This solution is wrong and not using any coding - adeg doesn't get used
adeg=60;
y=sqrt(3);
x=1;

% Same situation here
adeg=60;
y=sind(120);
x=cosd(120);

% Even more explicit here, and still wrong! If you are not using
% "adeg" as a variable, you are not coding adeg=60; y=5.77; x=10;

% Why the absolute values? And mixing degrees and radians
adeg=60;
y=abs(sin(90-adeg));
x=abs(cos(90-adeg));

W1Q3: Element-multiply two vectors

Simple, and quick:

% Do not change the variable names below
a=[1 2 3 4 5];
b=[6 7 8 9 0];
% Write your answer here below
c=a.*b;

% Wrong. The .* is not the "dot" product, which is the sum of the former
c=dot(a,b);

% Right. Rather, the "times" is what .* does
c=times(a,b);


W1Q4: Make a matrix of a defined size

Simple, quick, elegant:
m=4;
n=7;
A=nan(m,n);

If you like typing capitals, also good:
A=NaN(m,n);

Overkill with brackets and commas, but still good
A=NaN([4,7]) 

Also good
A=NaN([4 7])

Somewhat too complicated, but explicit, and right
A(1:m,1:n) = NaN;

Complicated! But the last line does not use m or n!
m=4;
n=7;
x=NaN;
a=[x x x x x x x]
A=repelem(a,4,7);

% Again, too explicit! You are not using m or n. Also, the dimensions don't work.
m=2;
n=3;
A= [NaN NaN ; NaN NaN NaN];


W1Q5: Element-divide two matrices

Most everyone gets what I intended,  some variation on:

cv=round(abs(((a./b-1)*100));
mc=mean(c);

Those of you using RDIVIDE will get tired of typing. But good find!