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Subsections

ABS Absolute Value Function

Usage

Returns the absolute value of the input array for all elements. The general syntax for its use is

   y = abs(x)

where x is an n-dimensional array of numerical type. The output is the same numerical type as the input, unless the input is complex or dcomplex. For complex inputs, the absolute value is a floating point array, so that the return type is float. For dcomplex inputs, the absolute value is a double precision floating point array, so that the return type is double.

Example

The following demonstrates the abs applied to a complex scalar.

--> abs(3+4*i)
ans = 
  <float>  - size: [1 1]
    5.0000000

The abs function applied to integer and real values:

--> abs([-2,3,-4,5])
ans = 
  <int32>  - size: [1 4]
 
Columns 1 to 4
             2              3              4              5

For a double-precision complex array,

--> abs([2.0+3.0*i,i])
ans = 
  <double>  - size: [1 2]
 
Columns 1 to 2
    3.605551275463989         1.000000000000000



Samit K. Basu 2005-03-16