Numeric classes in MATLAB® include signed and unsigned integers, and single-precision and double-precision floating-point numbers. By default, MATLAB stores all numeric values as double-precision floating point. (You cannot change the default type and precision.) You can choose to store any number, or array of numbers, as integers or as single-precision. Integer and single precision arrays offer more memory-efficient storage than double precision.
All numeric types support basic array operations, such as subscripting, reshaping, and mathematical operations.
double | Double-precision arrays |
single | Single-precision arrays |
int8 | 8-bit signed integer arrays |
int16 | 16-bit signed integer arrays |
int32 | 32-bit signed integer arrays |
int64 | 64-bit signed integer arrays |
uint8 | 8-bit unsigned integer arrays |
uint16 | 16-bit unsigned integer arrays |
uint32 | 32-bit unsigned integer arrays |
uint64 | 64-bit unsigned integer arrays |
isinteger | Determine if input is integer array |
isfloat | Determine if input is floating-point array |
isnumeric | Determine if input is numeric array |
isreal | Determine whether array is real |
isfinite | Array elements that are finite |
isinf | Array elements that are infinite |
isnan | Array elements that are NaN |
eps | Floating-point relative accuracy |
flintmax | Largest consecutive integer in floating-point format |
Inf | Infinity |
intmax | Largest value of specified integer type |
intmin | Smallest value of specified integer type |
NaN | Not-a-Number |
realmax | Largest positive floating-point number |
realmin | Smallest positive normalized floating-point number |
MATLAB supports 1-, 2-, 4-, and 8-byte storage for integer data. If you use the smallest integer type that accommodates your data, you can save memory and program execution time.
MATLAB represents floating-point numbers in either double-precision or single-precision format. The default is double precision.
Create complex numbers. Complex numbers consist of a real part and an imaginary part.
MATLAB represents infinity by the special value inf,
and values that are neither real nor complex by the special value NaN,
which stands for “Not a Number”.
You can check the data type of a variable using any of these commands.
Display Format for Numeric Values
The format function controls the
display of numeric values. Changing the format does not change the
values, only their display.
Combining Unlike Integer Types
If you combine different integer types in a matrix (e.g., signed with unsigned, or 8-bit integers with 16-bit integers), all elements of the resulting matrix are given the data type of the leftmost element.
Combining Integer and Noninteger Data
If you combine integers with double, single,
or logical classes, all elements of the resulting
matrix are given the data type of the leftmost integer.
If you construct a matrix using empty matrix elements, the empty matrices are ignored in the resulting matrix.
These examples show how to concatenate different data types.