Floating-point numbers may be entered as either integers, decimal floating-point numbers, or using the or using the e notation:
>> 3
ans =
3
>> 3253235.23
ans =
3.2532e+06
>> 32.2523e-3
ans =
0.0323
Note that the input does not necessarily reflect on the way the number is displayed.
If the largest number in a matrix would be written using the e notation, the appropriate multiple of 10 is taken outside of matrix:
>> [225323.23 523.23]
ans =
1.0e+05 *
2.2542 0.0052
>> [3.2376 9.2534e-7]
ans =
3.2376 0.0000
>> [728, 725324547]
ans =
1.0e+10 *
0.0000 7.2532
There are a number of formats in which you can use to display the results. You may invoke any of the formats by typing format **** where **** is the format. Note, that there are no parentheses.
| Name | Description | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| short | Scaled fixed point format with 5 digits. | default |
| long | Scaled fixed point format with 15 digits. | full precision in decimal format |
| short e | Floating point format with 5 digits. | |
| long e | Floating point format with 15 digits. | |
| short g | Best of fixed or floating point format with 5 digits. | |
| long g | Best of fixed or floating point format with 15 digits. | |
| hex | Hexadecimal fomrat. | the internal represetation of the double precision floating-point numbers. |
| + | The symbols +, - and blank are printed for positive, negative, and zero elements. Imaginary parts are ignored. | |
| bank | Fixed formats for dollars and cents. | |
| rat | Approximation by ratio of small integers. |
Two other formats are used for line spacing: loose (the default), and compact (suppresses extra line-feeds.)
Examples:
>> a = 1/5323
a =
1.8786e-04
>> format long
>> a
a =
1.878639864737930e-04
>> format hex
>> a
a =
3f289fab5b22f6b8
>> format % same as format short
>> a = 2.3
a =
2.3
>> format long e
a =
2.300000000000000e+00