If you have license problem when using Matlab on madmax machines or you get message like this when you try to use it:

ERROR: Matlab doesn't seem to be licensed for this host. If you feel this is
       in error, contact action@cs with the following information:

         Hostname: madmax2.stanford.edu
   Client Address: 172.24.75

Check which command you actually use:

$which matlab

If output is "/afs/cs/software/bin/matlab", consider using local instance that should be available at /usr/local/MATLAB/R2012b/bin/matlab

You can also put the folder to your $PATH variable by adding

export PATH=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2012b/bin:$PATH 

to file .bashrc.user in your home directory.

If file doesn't exist, you can just create it.

When you next time log in to the system, it should automatically use /usr/local/MATLAB/R2012b/bin/matlab when you type matlab command.