The difference is:
Several basic numeric operations have two versions, one for linear algebra (without the dot) and one for element-wise operations (with a dot). If you are not doing linear algebra then you should be using array operations (yes, this includes transpose rather than ctranspose). Read more here:
"I've never seen this syntax before."
Understanding the difference between array and matrix operations is an important step to learning MATLAB.
"And it doesn't seem to accomplish anything"
Try it on some arrays with complex numbers in them.
Note that both the ctranspose or transpose pages include at the bottom:
- a link to the other transpose, and also
- a link to the page explaining the difference between array and matrix operations.
