understanding the link between octave code and assignment equations - octave

Question

I have been struggling with some questions from my study guide and really am stuck - I have asked the lecturer for help but his answer was literally "but it's been done for you" (referring to gauss_seidel code that was written) - to which I think he missed the point. I'm struggling to understand the actual question and how to approach it.
The first question reads as follows:
Define the 100x100 square matrix A and the column vector b by:
A(ij)=I(ij)+1/((i-j)2+1) b_(i)=1+2/i 1<=i j<=100
where I_(ij) is the 100x100 identity matrix (i.e 1 on the main diagonal and 0 everywhere else). Solve for x using both the Gauss-Seidel method and the A\b construct.
We have written the code for the gauss_seidel method, and i think i understand what it does mostly, however, i do not understand how the above question fits into the method. I was thinking that i'm supposed to do something like the following in the octave window then calling the gauss_seidel method:
>> A=eye(100,100);
>> b= (this is where i get slightly confused)... I've tried doing
>> for b=1:n;
>> b=1+(2/n);
That is question 1.
Question 2 I have given an answer and asked him about but he has not responded.
It reads: The Hilbert matrix is a square n x n matrix defined by:
H_(ij)n = 1/i+j+1
Define bn to be a column vector of dimension n, and with each element 1. Construct bn and then solve for x, Hn xn=bn in the cases n=4.
What i did here was simply:
>> b=ones (4,1);
>> x=hilb(4)\b;
and then it gave me the output of x values. Im not sure if what i did here was correct... since it doesnt mention using any method at all it just says solve for x.
Im not sure how to relate the lecturers reply to understanding the problem.
If you could help me by maybe letting me know what im missing or how i should be thinking about this, it would really help.
the gauss_seidel code looks like this:
function xnew=gauss_seidel(A,b,xold)
n=size(A)(1);
At=A;
xnew=xold;
for k=1:n
At(k,k)=0;
end
for k=1:n
xnew(k)=(b(k)-At(k,:)*xnew)/A(k,k);
end
endfunction
Ive been writing pseudo since last Monday and I am only a little bit clearer on what the code does.

Answer 1

A(ij)=I(ij)+1/((i-j)2+1), b(i)=1+2/i, 1<=i, j<=100
All this is really saying is that we have to create A and b in such a way that i>=1 and j<=100. After doing that, you simply solve using the Gauss Seidel method.
So we'd create b like this:
b=zeros(100,1);
for k=1:100
b(k) = 1+(2/k);
end
This will create a column vector with a size of 100x1 with all the values that satisfy b(i)=1+2/i where i (or in the code,'k') was greater or equal to 1.
Then to create A :
myMatrix=zeros(100,100);
for i=1:100
for j=1:100
myMatrix(i,j) = 1/(((i-j)^2) + 1);
end
end
A=eye(100) + myMatrix;
Now we have created A in such a way that it equals A(ij)=I(ij)+1/((i-j)2+1) where i was greater or equal to 1 & j was less than or equal to 100.
The rest of the question is basically asking to to solve for the values of x using the Gauss Seidel method.
So it be something like this :
y=iterative_linear_solve(A,b,x0,TOL,max_it,method);
Don't forget about creating x0 as the initial assumption, tolerance and max iterations etc.
In terms of question 2, you did exactly what I would have done. I think you're good with that.
I'm not too sure how to answer this :
If you could help me by maybe letting me know what im missing or how i
should be thinking about this, it would really help.
All I can really say is that you need to look at the problems in such a way that you see Ax=b. For example in the first question we started by making b, and then A. After that we simply applied the A\b construct or the Gauss Seidel method and got our answer.
And that's essentially what you did for the second question.
Lastly, are you a UNISA student by chance? I am, haha. I've been struggling with this on my own for a while. The study guides don't seem to give a lot of info.