Matlab - inputs must be scalar when using linspace

I am creating a matlab project that can read a dataset that contains initial velocity, angle, and weight. The function below will read the data, calculate the maximum height and total distance that a rocketship will travel with these variables. However, when I go to plot them I use linspace inside the for loop and Matlab returns an error saying that there was an error using linspace because inputs must be scalar and I racked my brain for hours and can't figure out how to fix it. If anyone knows how to fix it, thank you, here is the function:

function [maxHeight, finalDistance, compareHeight] = calculateProjectile(Trajectory1)
    % dataset should be a matrix with columns: velocity (m/s), weight (kg), angle (degrees)
    
    % Constants
    g = 9.7979; % Acceleration due to gravity (m/s^2)
    requiredHeight = 150000; % Height needed to enter low Earth orbit (m)
    requiredVelocity = 7890; % Velocity needed to enter low Earth orbit (m/s)
    
    % Extracting data from the dataset
    velocity = Trajectory1(:, 1); % m/s
    weight = Trajectory1(:, 2); % kg
    angle = deg2rad(Trajectory1(:, 3)); % Convert degrees to radians
    
    % Calculate maximum height
    maxHeight = (velocity.^2 .* sin(angle).^2) / (2 * g);
    
    % Calculate final distance
    finalDistance = (velocity.^2 .* sin(2 * angle)) / g;
    
    % Compare maximum height with required height for orbit
    compareHeight = maxHeight >= requiredHeight;
    
    % Compare initial velocity with required velocity for orbit
    compareVelocity = velocity >= requiredVelocity;
    
    % Plot the trajectories
    figure;
    
    % Plot for spaceships that didn't enter low Earth orbit
    subplot(1,2,1);
    for i = find(~compareHeight)
        %error
        t = linspace(0, (2 * velocity(i) .* sin(angle(i))) / g, 100);
        x = velocity(i) * cos(angle(i)) * t;
        y = velocity(i) * sin(angle(i)) * t - (1/2) * g * t.^2;
        plot(x, y);
        hold on;
    end
    line([0, max(finalDistance)], [requiredHeight, requiredHeight], 'Color', 'r', 'LineStyle', '--');
    xlabel('Distance (m)');
    ylabel('Height (m)');
    title('Trajectories (Not in Orbit)');
    grid on;
    hold off;
    
    % Plot for spaceships that entered low Earth orbit
    subplot(1,2,2);
    for i = find(compareHeight)
        %error
        t = linspace(0, (2 * velocity(i) .* sin(angle(i))) / g, 100);
        x = velocity(i) * cos(angle(i)) * t;
        y = velocity(i) * sin(angle(i)) * t - (1/2) * g * t.^2;
        plot(x, y);
        hold on;
    end
    line([0, max(finalDistance)], [requiredHeight, requiredHeight], 'Color', 'r', 'LineStyle', '--');
    xlabel('Distance (m)');
    ylabel('Height (m)');
    title('Trajectories (In Orbit)');
    grid on;
    hold off;
    
    % Display results
    disp('Results:');
    disp(['Maximum Height (m): ', num2str(maxHeight)]);
    disp(['Final Distance (m): ', num2str(finalDistance)]);
    disp(['Comparison with Orbit Height (1 if true, 0 if false): ', num2str(compareHeight)]);
    disp(['Comparison with Orbit Velocity (1 if true, 0 if false): ', num2str(compareVelocity)]);
end

And here is the code i use to run it:

data = readmatrix('Trajectory1.xlsx'); % Assuming data.csv is properly formatted
calculateProjectile(data);

This is the file I am reading (sorry, located at top):

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

replace this line

for i = find(~compareHeight)

with

for i = reshape(find(~compareHeight),1,[])

The cause is an awful, useless, endlessly bug-causing design-decision of TMW: FOR actually loops over the columns of the array you provide it with. So if you provide it with a column vector (like the output from FIND) then it will iterate exactly once and the loop iterator will be that column vector. Thus in your code i is a non-scalar columm vector... and so is the 2nd input to LINSPACE.

This is a useless, ugly, counter productive "feature" of FOR that no one uses, forces all of us to write more complex code to avoid this "feature" (e.g. reshaping the output of FIND), and causes far more bugs than the three times in the history of MATLAB that anyone has actually used this "feature". But sadly we all have to keep it in mind everytime we write a FOR loop.

[Dyuman Joshi]

As it is known that data is in the form of column vector, transpose() can be used as well.

However, I agree that this particular functionality of the for loop is not a good programming design.

[Stephen23]

"I agree that this particular functionality of find() is not a good programming design."

I have no problem with FIND.

[Dyuman Joshi]

My bad, typo.

Answer 2

[Star Strider]

The problem is that the original ‘i’ value in each loop returned a vector, and that vector became the subscript for the ‘velocity’ and ‘angle’ arguments.

I changed your code (in both instances) to start the loops with:

i1 = find(~compareHeight);

for i2 = 1:numel(i1)

...

end

(or whatever is appropriate for them, siunce that differs between the loops) and that solve the original problem.

The remaining problem is the ‘maxHeight’ is a column vector, and that won’t work in the concatenation. I leave that for you to resolve.

data = readmatrix('Trajectory1.xlsx'); % Assuming data.csv is properly formatted
calculateProjectile(data);

Results:

Error using horzcat
Dimensions of arrays being concatenated are not consistent.

Error in solution>calculateProjectile (line 78)
disp(['Maximum Height (m): ', num2str(maxHeight)]);

function [maxHeight, finalDistance, compareHeight] = calculateProjectile(Trajectory1)
    % dataset should be a matrix with columns: velocity (m/s), weight (kg), angle (degrees)
    
    % Constants
    g = 9.7979; % Acceleration due to gravity (m/s^2)
    requiredHeight = 150000; % Height needed to enter low Earth orbit (m)
    requiredVelocity = 7890; % Velocity needed to enter low Earth orbit (m/s)
    
    % Extracting data from the dataset
    velocity = Trajectory1(:, 1); % m/s
    weight = Trajectory1(:, 2); % kg
    angle = deg2rad(Trajectory1(:, 3)); % Convert degrees to radians
    
    % Calculate maximum height
    maxHeight = (velocity.^2 .* sin(angle).^2) / (2 * g);
    
    % Calculate final distance
    finalDistance = (velocity.^2 .* sin(2 * angle)) / g;
    
    % Compare maximum height with required height for orbit
    compareHeight = maxHeight >= requiredHeight;
    
    % Compare initial velocity with required velocity for orbit
    compareVelocity = velocity >= requiredVelocity;
    
    % Plot the trajectories
    figure;
    
    % Plot for spaceships that didn't enter low Earth orbit
    subplot(1,2,1);
    i1 = find(~compareHeight);
    for i2 = 1:numel(i1)
        %error
        i = i1(i2);
        % Vq = velocity(i)
        % Aq = angle(i)
        t = linspace(0, (2 * velocity(i) .* sin(angle(i))) / g, 100);
        x = velocity(i) * cos(angle(i)) * t;
        y = velocity(i) * sin(angle(i)) * t - (1/2) * g * t.^2;
        plot(x, y);
        hold on;
    end
    line([0, max(finalDistance)], [requiredHeight, requiredHeight], 'Color', 'r', 'LineStyle', '--');
    xlabel('Distance (m)');
    ylabel('Height (m)');
    title('Trajectories (Not in Orbit)');
    grid on;
    hold off;
    
    % Plot for spaceships that entered low Earth orbit
    subplot(1,2,2);
    i3 = find(compareHeight);
    for i4 = 1:numel(i3)
        %error
        i = i3(i4);
        % Vq = velocity(i)
        % Aq = angle(i)
        t = linspace(0, (2 * velocity(i) .* sin(angle(i))) / g, 100);
        x = velocity(i) * cos(angle(i)) * t;
        y = velocity(i) * sin(angle(i)) * t - (1/2) * g * t.^2;
        plot(x, y);
        hold on;
    end
    line([0, max(finalDistance)], [requiredHeight, requiredHeight], 'Color', 'r', 'LineStyle', '--');
    xlabel('Distance (m)');
    ylabel('Height (m)');
    title('Trajectories (In Orbit)');
    grid on;
    hold off;
    
    % Display results
    disp('Results:');
    % % maxHeight
    disp(['Maximum Height (m): ', num2str(maxHeight)]);
    disp(['Final Distance (m): ', num2str(finalDistance)]);
    disp(['Comparison with Orbit Height (1 if true, 0 if false): ', num2str(compareHeight)]);
    disp(['Comparison with Orbit Velocity (1 if true, 0 if false): ', num2str(compareVelocity)]);
end

.