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Numeric Types

Integer and floating-point data

Numeric classes in MATLAB® include signed and unsigned integers, and single-precision and double-precision floating-point numbers. By default, MATLAB stores all numeric values as double-precision floating point. (You cannot change the default type and precision.) You can choose to store any number, or array of numbers, as integers or as single-precision. Integer and single precision arrays offer more memory-efficient storage than double precision.

All numeric types support basic array operations, such as indexing, reshaping, and mathematical operations.

Functions

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doubleDouble-precision arrays
singleSingle-precision arrays
int88-bit signed integer arrays
int1616-bit signed integer arrays
int3232-bit signed integer arrays
int6464-bit signed integer arrays
uint88-bit unsigned integer arrays
uint1616-bit unsigned integer arrays
uint3232-bit unsigned integer arrays
uint6464-bit unsigned integer arrays
castConvert variable to different data type
typecastConvert data type without changing underlying data
allfiniteDetermine if all array elements are finite (Since R2022a)
anynanDetermine if any array element is NaN (Since R2022a)
isintegerDetermine whether input is integer array
isfloatDetermine if input is floating-point array
isnumericDetermine whether input is numeric array
isrealDetermine whether array uses complex storage
isfiniteDetermine which array elements are finite
isinfDetermine which array elements are infinite
isnanDetermine which array elements are NaN
epsFloating-point relative accuracy
flintmaxLargest consecutive integer in floating-point format
InfCreate array of all Inf values
intmaxLargest value of specific integer type
intminSmallest value of specific integer type
NaNCreate array of all NaN values
realmaxLargest positive floating-point number
realminSmallest normalized floating-point number

Topics

  • Floating-Point Numbers

    MATLAB represents floating-point numbers in either double-precision or single-precision format. The default is double precision.

  • Single Precision Math

    This example shows how to perform arithmetic and linear algebra with single precision data.

  • Integers

    MATLAB supports 1-, 2-, 4-, and 8-byte storage for integer data. If you use the smallest integer type that accommodates your data, you can save memory and program execution time.

  • Integer Arithmetic

    This example shows how to perform arithmetic on integer data representing signals and images.

  • Create Complex Numbers

    Create complex numbers. Complex numbers consist of a real part and an imaginary part.

  • Infinity and NaN

    MATLAB represents infinity by the special value inf, and values that are neither real nor complex by the special value NaN, which stands for “Not a Number”.

  • Identifying Numeric Classes

    You can check the data type of a variable using any of these commands.

  • Display Format for Numeric Values

    Use the format function or set Preferences to control the display of numeric values.

  • Combining Unlike Integer Types

    If you combine different integer types in a matrix (e.g., signed with unsigned, or 8-bit integers with 16-bit integers), all elements of the resulting matrix are given the data type of the leftmost element.

  • Combining Integer and Noninteger Data

    If you combine integers with double, single, or logical classes, all elements of the resulting matrix are given the data type of the leftmost integer.

  • Empty Matrices

    If you construct a matrix using empty matrix elements, the empty matrices are ignored in the resulting matrix.

  • Concatenation Examples

    These examples show how to concatenate different data types.

  • Hexadecimal and Binary Values

    Specify hexadecimal and binary values either as literals or as text. Hexadecimal and binary literals are stored as integers. You can convert text representing hexadecimal and binary values to numbers, and numbers to text representations.

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