Vectors, Matrices, and Arrays: Size, Length, and Subscripts

Size of an Array
Length of a Vector
Length of an Array
Subscripts
Colon Operator as Subscript
Exercise

Let's say we have these sample arrays and vectors:

VectorExample1 = [2; 4; 6; 1; 3; 5];
VectorExample2 = [2  4  6  1  3  5];
MatrixExample1 = [2  4  6; 1  3  5];
MatrixExample2 = [2  4; 6  1; 3  5];

(Exercise: do you know how these vectors/matrices look like without typing these commands in MATLAB?)

Size of an Array

Many times it is important to find out the dimensions of an array. The function size returns a vector of dimensions:

size(MatrixExample1)

ans =

     2     3

size(MatrixExample2)

ans =

     3     2

To save the numbers for future use, type

[RowNumber, ColNumber] = size(MatrixExample1)

RowNumber =

     2


ColNumber =

     3

or use a vector to save the info:

SizeNumber = size(MatrixExample1)

SizeNumber =

     2     3

Length of a Vector

In MATLAB, a vector is basically a 1xN (or Nx1) array. Therefore we don't really need the size; all we need is the length (i.e. the value of N)

length(VectorExample1)

ans =

     6

length(VectorExample2)

ans =

     6

Length of an Array

Sometimes we are not interested in all the dimensions, but just the longest one (as with 1xN arrays). MATLAB provides the handy function length to obtain that number:

length(MatrixExample1)

ans =

     3

length(MatrixExample2)

ans =

     3

Note that the length for the two matrices are the same.

Subscripts

Subscripts are the intuitive mathematical representation for accessing data that has more than one dimension. For example,

VectorExample1(3)

ans =

     6

refers to the third element of the vector VectorExample1, and

MatrixExample1(1,2)

ans =

     4

refers to the element in the first row, second column of the array MatrixExample1.

Colon Operator as Subscript

If you want to see a range of values, use the colon operator:

VectorExample2(2:5)

ans =

     4     6     1     3

MatrixExample1(1:2, 2:3)

Exercise

We have

A = [1:5; zeros(1,3),ones(1,2); 10:-1:6];
S = size(A);
Q = S(1) + length(A) - A(2,5) + length(zeros(1,3));

What's the value of Q?