MATLAB Programming

Numeric Types
• “Largest and Smallest Values for Integer Data Types” on page 2-9
• “Warnings for Integer Data Types” on page 2-10
• “Integer Functions” on page 2-13
MATLAB supports 1-, 2-, 4-, and 8-byte storage for integer data. You can
save memory and execution time for your programs if you use the smallest
integer type that accommodates your data. For example, you don’t need a
32-bit integer to store the value 100.
Here are the eight integer data types, the range of values you can store with
each type, and the MATLAB conversion function required to create that type:
Data Type Range of Values Conversion Function
Signed 8-bit integer -2 7 to 2 7 -1 int8
Signed 16-bit integer -2 15 to 2 15 -1 int16
Signed 32-bit integer -2 31 to 2 31 -1 int32
Signed 64-bit integer -2 63 to 2 63 -1 int64
Unsigned 8-bit integer 0to2 8 -1 uint8
Unsigned 16-bit integer 0to2 16 -1 uint16
Unsigned 32-bit integer 0to2 32 -1 uint32
Unsigned 64-bit integer 0to2 64 -1 uint64
Creating Integer Data
MATLAB stores numeric data as double-precision floating point (double)
by default. To store data as an integer, you need to convert from double to
the desired integer type. Use one of the conversion functions shown in the
table above.
For example, to store 325 as a 16-bit signed integer assigned to variable x, type
x = int16(325);
If the number being converted to an integer has a fractional part, MATLAB
rounds to the nearest integer. If the fractional part is exactly 0.5, thenfrom
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