Section 1.5 Display Formats
One can control the format in which MATLAB displays (echos) output to the command window:
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The default format is fixed-point with 4 decimal digits.
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Issue the format command (see below for some examples) to change the output for the remainder of the session.
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The output format does not change the way that MATLAB computes and stores numbers.
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The default data type is a double-precision array which means that by default, any number is stored with double-precision (which means using 64 bits).
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Using 64 bits, number you can store range from 2.225073858507201e-308 to 1.797693134862316e+308
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Display Format | Description | Example |
format short | fixed-point with 4 decimal digits for \(0.001 \leq\) number \(\leq 1000\text{,}\) otherwise uses short e
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>> 290/7 ans = 41.4286 |
format long | fixed-point with 15 decimal digits for \(0.001 \leq\) number \(\leq 1000\text{,}\) otherwise uses long e
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>> 290/7 ans = 41.42857142857143
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format short e | scientific notation with 4-decimal digits
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>> 290/7 ans = 4.1429e+001
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format long e | scientific notation with 15-decimal digits
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>> 290/7 ans = 4.142857142857143e+001
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format short g | best of 5-digit or scientific notation
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>> 290/7 ans = 41.429
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format long g | best of 15-digit or scientific notation
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>> 290/7 ans = 41.4285714285714
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format bank | Two decimal digits
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>> 290/7 ans = 41.43
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format compact | eliminates empty lines
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format loose | adds empty lines
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