diff --git a/tests/matlab/EQUALITY.m b/tests/matlab/EQUALITY.m
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4f310175d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/matlab/EQUALITY.m
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+function EQUALITY(name,A,B,tol)
+% test equality of two vectors/matrices up to tolerance
+
+if nargin<4,tol=1e-9;end
+
+assertion = size(A)==size(B);
+if assertion
+    assertion = all(abs(A-B)<tol);
+end
+if (assertion~=1)
+  error(['EQUALITY ' name ' fails']);
+end