I got Matlab from the college software store, it is not normally gratis.
The installation requires XCode (you must be a member of the Apple Developer Connection to get this) and X11 (X11R6 available as part of Optional Installs.mpkg in the Optional Installs directory on the OSX install disk).
If X11R6 is not installed the following error is encountered (when running /Applications/MATLAB74/bin/matlab -nojvm):
dyld: Library not loaded: /usr/X11R6/lib/libXext.6.dylib Referenced from: /Applications/MATLAB74/bin/maci/MATLAB.app/Contents/MacOS/libmwhg.dylib Reason: image not found Trace/BPT trap
Once X11 is installed from the OSX Optional Installs this problem disappears and Matlab runs correctly.
If the license manager is not running correctly the following error message may be shown:
License checkout failed. License Manager Error -95 MATLAB is unable to connect to the license server. Make sure you can resolve the hostname of your machine. If you are unable to resolve the hostname, contact your System Administrator. Troubleshoot this issue by selecting the button below or visiting: http://www.mathworks.com/support/lme95a Diagnostic Information: Feature: MATLAB License path: /Applications/MATLAB74/etc/license.dat:/Applications/MATLAB74/etc/*.lic: FLEXnet Licensing error: -95,378. System Error: 36
Check the Servername in your license file. If it is not pingable, try changing it to localhost. This may solve the problem (you may need a restart first).