Every computer is a machine. It does not think. It cannot understand. It does not know what you want it to do.
Everything you want it to do must be told to it, explicitly in its language. In this course we are discussing the MATLAB® syntax.
When you run MATLAB for the first time, you will see a screen that has various parts. The important one for now is the "Command Window." To close all the others, open the "Desktop" menu and unselect all selected options, except for "Command Window." You should have now, a single frame, which is white, expect for ">>" and, perhaps a blinking cursor.