if statement with ge and &

I don't understand why the following line is producing an error:

if j ge 2 & cANALY(i+1,j-1) < 0

j is a scalar and cANALY(i+1,j-1) is an element in the array cANALY. So why the error "Too many input arguments".

Answer 1

[Rik]

You should write this instead:

if j >= 2 && cANALY(i+1,j-1) < 0

[Robert Demyanovich]

Thanks. It looked like that worked. Coming from a visual basic background, I don't think I'll ever understand MatLab (in this case why the double ampersand??).

[Steven Lord]

If you wanted to use the function form of the operator >= you would have to call it with the two quantities you wanted to compare inside the parentheses.

5 >= 4 % true

ans = logical
   1

ge(5, 4) % also true

ans = logical
   1

Putting the function between the two inputs won't work. That only works with the operator. Most people just use the operator form, but people writing classes need to know that ge is the function form of the >= operator so they can overload it if necessary.

As for why the double ampersand, read the "More About" section on this documentation page.