Expanding a function in Matlab

I ma trying to writea code that expands the function (a + b).^2 into the expected output. Instead it gives the Output below. How would i be able to get to the Expected Output?

>> a = 'a';
>> b= 'b';
>> func = multip = (a + b).^2

Expected Output:

a^2+2ab+b^2

Output:

7414875

Answer 1

[DGM]

Using symbolic tools:

syms a b
f = expand((a+b)^2)

f = 

Your approach would ostensibly return a number because you're treating characters as numbers.

double('a')

ans = 97

double('b')

ans = 98

(97+98)^2

ans = 38025

As to why exactly that number is different than what you got, I have no idea. The code you posted shouldn't do anything but throw an error.

[John D'Errico]

I assume you are saying that what would throw an error is the line with func. Of course that is invalid MATLAB syntax.

a = 'a';
b = 'b';
func = multip = (a + b).^2

I note that

sqrt(7414875)
ans =
      2723.02680853494

is not even an exact integer, but it is also far too large to be the sum of two standard ascii equivalents. So I have no immediate idea what was actually stored in those variables.