how to install matlab in ubuntu
1 - get the linux version of matlab
2 - install it, should be easy, the gui is your friend, just pay attention not to write to places you don't have permission to write or if you install it as root be careful
3 - after installing try to see if matlab runs, if you used sudo then check your home directory for a .matlab directory if it exists delete it as probably it will be owned by root
4 - try running it again, if it complains about java install the jre package, then go to your matlab install directory (ex: /opt/matlab/r2008b/sys/java/jre/glnx86) and rename the jre folder to something else then create a link to the system's java folder and it should work.