GNU Octave

Time for action – programming the minmax function

1. Open your text editor and write the following code

   Code Listing 5.1
   function [minx, maxx] = minmax(x)					#1
   									#2
     maxx = max(x);							#3
     minx = min(x);							#4
   									#5
   endfunction								#6

2. Save the code as minmax.m under the current directory or anywhere in the Octave search path.
3. To execute the function type the following commands at the Octave command prompt:

   octave:1> a = rand(1, 5)
   
   a =
     0.573584    0.588720    0.112184    0.052960    0.555401
   
   octave:2> [mina, maxa] = minmax(a)
   
   mina = 0.052960
   
   maxa = 0.588720
   

   as we would expect.

What just happened?

From line 1 in Code Listing 5.1, we see that the function name is minmax, the function takes the input x, and returns two outputs minx and maxx . It should be clear what code lines 3 and ...