Changing scientific notation to long format

Hi all,

I have written the following program to calculate the crosswind for a runway:

function [] = crosswind()

fprintf('\n----- Crosswind -------------------------------------------------- \n');

while 1
    
    % Numerically Defining Input Responses
    yes = 1;
    Yes = 1;
    yEs = 1;
    yeS = 1;
    YEs = 1;
    yES = 1;
    YeS = 1;
    YES = 1;
    y   = 1;
    Y   = 1;

    no = 2;
    No = 2;
    nO = 2;
    NO = 2;
    n  = 2;
    N  = 2;
    
    %fprintf('-------------------------------------------------------');
    %fprintf('\nWelcome to the crosswind component calculator. \n')
    %fprintf('This funciton is not a substitute for instructor input. \n');
    %fprintf('Input directions in degrees, and velocity in knots. \n\n');

    % Asking for Information
    runwayDesignator = input('Two digit runway identifier:       ');
    windDegrees = input('Direction wind is from in degrees: ');
    windMagnitude = input('Wind speed in knots:               ');

    % Computing Information
    runwayDegrees = runwayDesignator * 10;
    difference = abs( runwayDegrees - windDegrees );
    multiplier = sind( difference );
    crossWind = abs( windMagnitude * multiplier );

    % Printing the Result
    if crossWind >= 20
        fprintf(2, '\nThere are %d knots of crosswind for runway %d. \n', crossWind, runwayDesignator)
    end
    if crossWind < 20
        fprintf('\nThere are %d knots of crosswind for runway %d \n', crossWind, runwayDesignator)
    end
    
    % Asking for further responses / exiting
    fprintf('\nWould you like to calculate the crosswind for another runway?\n');
    answerA = input('Type response here:                ');
    if answerA == 2
        break;
    end
    
end
end

For example to run the funciton input the numbers:

12

360

20

The funciton works, but I would like the result to be printed in non scientific notation. To do this I tried to insert a like such as:

crossWindLong =     sprintf('%2.2f', crossWind);

But when I input this, and run the funciton keeping the input vairables (12, 360 and 20) the same, the function returns some garbage result.

How would I avoid this?

Thanks

[Stephen23]

Rather than defining all of those different "yes" and "no" strings just use the 's' option to return the user string:

str = input(...,'s');

which you can trivially compare using strcmpi:

if strcmpi(str,'no')

"the function returns some garbage result."

>> sprintf('%2.2f', 12)
ans = 12.00
>> sprintf('%2.2f', 360)
ans = 360.00
>> sprintf('%2.2f', 20)
ans = 20.00

[dpb]

Why are you outputting >=20 to standard error (fileID 2 as first argument to fprintf()) and <20 to normal output?

You don't show doing anything with the result -- nor what actual code must have run to get something unexpected.

Why not just replace the "%d" format string in the fprintf calls with the format you would like?

Answer 1

[Star Strider]

Select an appropriate option (such as long g) with the format function.

[Aaron Staszewski]

I found that I would like it to round to two decimal places (format bank) but I'm not sure where to put the command to get it to work.

I would have thought to put it before the fprintf statement but I am still printing the result in scientific notation.

Where does 'format bank' need to be placed? / what am I doing wrong?

[Star Strider]

The format setting does not affect fprintf or similar functions. The outputs from them are completely governed by the format string.

With respect to fprintf and the others, use '%.2f' to get two decimal point rounding for all numbers. If you specify a full field width, it must include all decimal digits to the left of the decimal, as well as the decimal itself and the sign. So for example to print π to two decimal places:

fprintf('%.2f', pi)

produces:

3.14

and:

fprintf('%5.2f', pi)

produces:

3.14

(note the leading space for the sign), and:

fprintf('%10.2f', pi)

produces:

      3.14

.