MATLAB: In the code below, what does ind do

Question

cost=feval(ff,pop); %evaluate function

[cost,ind]=sort(cost,'descend'); %sorts in descending order

pop=pop(ind,:);

Answer 1

It evaluates a function called ‘ff’ with the argument ‘pop’, and assigns it to the variable ‘cost’. It then sorts ‘cost’, gets the associated indices (‘ind’)into the original vector, and uses those indices to re-define ‘pop’, sorting it according to ’cost’.