MATLAB: Parse error: usage might be invalid MATLAB syntax

Question

Hi, I am doing a really simple homework assignment:

"Create a file named matlabprog.m . In this program, you should create two arrays A and B. A should hold the numbers 1 through 4. B should hold the numbers 4 through 1.

You should then add A and B together, storing the result in a new array C.

After performing these array operations, you should use disp() to output the array (i.e. to output array C you would write disp(C); )

Then calculate sin(A) and store the resulting array in a new array named D. You should output array D using disp()

Each command should be on its own line and should end with a semicolon. Execute this file in matlab by typing the following into the prompt: >> matlabprog"

So this is what I did:

 diary('matlabprog.m')
 A = [1,2,3,4];
 B = [4,3,2,1];
 C = (A+B);
 disp(C);
      5 5 5 5
 D = (sin(A));
 disp(D);
     0.8415 0.9093 0.1411 -0.7568
 diary('off')

However, when I try to do the last step of the assignment of entering matlabprog into matlab, this comes up:

 "Error: File: matlabprog.m Line: 5 Column: 12
 Unexpected MATLAB expression."

So when I looked at the messages from my code these errors came up:

 5 Parse error at 5: usage might be invalid MATLAB syntax. 
 9 Parse error at '0.9093': usage might be invalid MATLAB syntax.

How do I fix this, and is there anything else wrong with what I did? Thanks.

Answer 1

You included the answers in the file, and MATLAB is trying to interpret them as commands. My guess is that you don't need the diary commands either, so a working file would look like this:

A = [1,2,3,4];
B = [4,3,2,1];
C = (A+B);
disp(C);
D = (sin(A));
disp(D);