Conditional operator if-else-elseif-end with switch-case combined

[gfd43tg]

Homework Statement

#1 in the attachment

Homework Equations

The Attempt at a Solution

My code is working for all of the numeric, logical, character portions. I got 7/8 points

if ischar(X_input)
    Y_output = upper(X_input);
elseif isnumeric(X_input)
    switch isnumeric(X_input)
        case X_input < -2
            Y_output = -1./((X_input.^2) + 1);
        case (-2 <= X_input) & (X_input < -1)
            Y_output = sin(X_input);
        case (-1 <= X_input) & (X_input < 1)
            Y_output = X_input.^2;
        case (1 <= X_input) & (X_input < 2)
            Y_output = 2;
        case X_input >= 2
            Y_output = 1./(X_input + 1);
    end
elseif islogical(X_input)
        Y_output = logical(~X_input);
else
        Y_output = NaN;
end

The part that I believe is wrong is the else Y_output = NaN. I don't know what to use to test because it seems like everything is logical, numerical, or a character. So I guessed an array. I tested with an array and I get no output (not NaN). Is something wrong with my synthax?

 

[AlephZero]

The functions ischar, isnumeric, isLogical test the type of a variable, not its value. NaN is a numerical value, not a type of data. So the value of "isnumeric(NaN)" is "true".

NaN doesn't match any of the cases in the switch statement, so Y_output isn't set to anything.

Note, your switch statement "works" but it's not really what it is intended for. Look at the examples in http://www.mathworks.co.uk/help/matlab/ref/switch.html. It would be better to replace the switch with another if ... elseif ... else ...end statement.

 

[D H]

The part you got wrong is the numerical part. The assignment says (emphasis mine) "for each element of X_input, assign to the corresponding element of Y output having the same index, a value based on the following piecewise function ..." You didn't do that.

For example, if X_input contained [3.0, 1.5, -3, 1.57079632679, 0.5], the output should have been [0.25, 2.0, -0.1, 0.0, 0.25].

 

[gfd43tg]

So I should not use the switch case otherwise block for this problem at all? I don't understand how to use the if-elseif-else-end block with all my various cases. It seemed natural to use a switch case because of all of the cases in the piecewise function. Should I do an elseif for every case in the piecewise function?

 

[AlephZero]

Yes. You can "nest" a complete if ... elseif ... elseif ... else ... end structure inside another one, which is what I would have done here.

The outer one does the tests for character, numeric, and logical. The inner one tests the different ranges.

Actually I'm surprised your code even compiles. It could be that it actually means something very different from what you intended. But I don't use Matlab much and I don't feel like reading the reference manual to figure out exactly what is going on, sorry!

 

[D H]

You need a loop (or you need to use an advanced Matlab function that essentially does the loop for you).

You are testing whether X_input is less than -2, etc, and to be honest, I would not have given 7/8 for that code. You need to do this test on an element by element basis.

 

[gfd43tg]

Here is my new code that I get help with from a grad student instructor

if ischar(X_input)
    Y_output = upper(X_input);
elseif isnumeric(X_input)
    for i = 1:length(X_input)
        if X_input(i) < -2
           Y_output(i) = -1./((X_input(i).^2) + 1);
        elseif (X_input(i) >= -2) && (X_input(i) < -1)
            Y_output(i) = sin(X_input(i));
        elseif (X_input(i) >= -1) && (X_input(i) < 1)
            Y_output(i) = X_input(i).^2;
        elseif (X_input(i) >= 1) && (X_input(i) < 2)
            Y_output(i) = 2;
        elseif X_input(i) >= 2
            Y_output(i) = 1./(X_input(i) + 1);
        end
    end 
elseif islogical(X_input)
        Y_output = logical(~X_input);
else
        Y_output = NaN;
end

It didn't help that I had to write this code without learning with a loop is. But at least I was able to do the elseif part from AZ's help.