MATLAB: Mathematical symbol in the result

mathematics

Hi all,

I just run a program in Matlab and it gives a result of "5.6490e-006 +9.7844e-006i". I know what does it means by "5.6490e-006" but I'm not sure about "+9.7844e-006i", why there is "i" symbol at the back. Maybe this is more to mathematical definition but anyone can help? Thanks

Best Answer

The i represents sqrt(-1), so your result was 5.6490e-006 + sqrt(-1) * 9.7844e-006

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MATLAB: Integration is not as I expect

And you are absolutely positive that the two forms are not mathematically equivalent? You have checked that carefully?

The thing about symbolic computations is the computer need not return a result that is in exactly the form you recognize. That need not make it wrong.

So why not look more carefully at that result? You might surprise yourself.

MATLAB: Do I get different result even if they are mathematically equivalent

Um, no. Not truly so. They look alike. But are they?

x = -1;
x^(2/3)
ans =
       -0.5 +    0.86603i
(x^2)^(1/3)
ans =
     1

Not the same.

When x is a non-negative real number, they are the same. But if x is negative, then there are THREE results for that value. And MATLAB returns the principal solution.

So when you used the first form, and x was negative, MATLAB got confused as to which solution you really wanted. That blew away the left half of the heart.

Best Answer

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MATLAB: Integration is not as I expect

MATLAB: Do I get different result even if they are mathematically equivalent

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