function simplematrixbox( a, s )
% visualizes the effect of a matrix a on a set of vectors forming a box
% a: a 2x2 matrix
% s: a string plotted as the title of the plot
% this function is called by simplematrix2dtrafos.m
% this is a simple version of the more elaborate matrixbox() function.

    x = [ 0 1 1 0 0 1; 0 0 1 1 0 1 ];
    plot( x(1,:), x(2,:), '-b' );
    hold on;
    y = a*x;
    plot( y(1,:), y(2,:), '-r' );
    [ ev ed ] = eig( a );
    ev = ev * ed;
    quiver( [0 0], [0 0], ev(1,:), ev(2,:), 1.0, 'g' )
    hold off;
    xlim( [-2 2 ] )
    ylim( [-2 2] )
    title( s );
    waitforbuttonpress;
end