To calculate the product of elements in a vector in MATLAB (R2010a), use the command p = prod(f), where f is the defined vector. For a 4D matrix M with dimensions a * b * c * n, element-wise multiplication can be achieved using M(:,:,:,1).*M(:,:,:,2).*...*M(:,:,:,n). To perform the product over a specific dimension, refer to MATLAB's Help documentation for guidance. The community encourages users to seek help but also emphasizes the importance of independent learning. Understanding these functions is essential for effective MATLAB usage.