Using normpdf with datetime datatype

I have a vector of time in datetime datatype. I would like to calculate the Normal pdf by giving arguments in datetime datype. normpdf does not work with datetime arguments, but it works if I convert the arguments to datenum

Non-scalar arguments must match in size.

Consider the following-

today = datenum('21-Aug-2019');
xs = datestr((today-5):(today+5));
x = datetime(xs);
mu = datetime(datestr(today));
stdev = hours(20);

The following does not work-

weight = normpdf(x, mu, stdev)

but the following works-

weight = normpdf(datenum(x), datenum(mu), datenum(stdev))

Just want to check, if it is possible to make normpdf with datetime.

Answer 1

[Mahesh Taparia]

Hi,

It is not possible to use normpdf with the input in datetime format (which is not in scalar format). This command requires scalar values/ array of scalar values as input. You are getting result with the 1st command because datenum converts the date into number and it is equal to the number of days from January 0, 0000.

For more information on normpdf, you can refer the below link:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/stats/normpdf.html