Graph gives warning : function behaves unexpectedly on array inputs. What does this mean?

%plot to view graph
g =@(x) 3*x^3 +x^2 -2*x - 5;
figure(2)
o = -40:40;
fplot(g,[-40 40])

Answer 1

[Chris]

You are using matrix (linear algebra) operators, which include * and ^. If you try to calculate the function directly, You get an error because raising a vector to a power doesn't work.

g =@(x) 3*x^3 +x^2 -2*x - 5;
o = -40:40;
y = g(o);

Error using ^
Incorrect dimensions for raising a matrix to a power. Check that the matrix is square and the power is a scalar. To operate on each element of the matrix individually, use POWER (.^) for elementwise
power.

Error in solution (line 1)
g =@(x) 3*x^3 +x^2 -2*x - 5;

To operate on each x value individually, use elementwise operators (e.g, .^ .* ./ )

g =@(x) 3 .* x .^ 3 + x .^ 2 - 2 .* x - 5;
fplot(g,[-40,40])

[Chris]

g =@(x) 3 .* x .^ 3 + x .^ 2 - 2 .* x - 5;
fplot(g,[-40,40])

[Stephanie Mendoza]

Thank you soo much!! The error went away!

[Chris]

No problem. :)