Echo

Defining a variable or entering the name of an

existing variable at the prompt causes Matlab to
returns its value. This is called an echo. This can
be useful to check its value but it can be stopped
by typing a semi-colon after each instruction.
Example: when A=4; is entered, nothing is
echoed but the assignment has still been
executed as can be checked in the Workspace
frame.
Semi-colon is also the statement delimiter in
Matlab. It indicates that a statement is over and
that what follows is a new one.