MATLAB: Defining a method, the purpose of the brackets

Question

while we are defining a method we write like this

function [ ] = methodsName ()

statement or statements

end

what are the purposes of [ ] and ()

Can you help me? Thanks.

Answer 1

In the brackets, you list all the output variables that you want your function to return. If it returns only one variable, then you can omit the bracket - they're required for 2 or more returned values.

The parentheses contain the input arguments. You list them separated by commas. For example

function theSum = GetSum(a, b)
theSum = a+b;

or

function [theSum, theProduct] = GetSumAndProduct(a, b)
theSum = a+b;
theProduct = a*b;