Arithmetic operators in MATLAB - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Output of mixed arithmetic operations

What is the output of the following MATLAB code?

MATLAB

a = 5;
b = 3;
c = a^2 - 4*b + 7;
disp(c);

A 19

B 18

C 25

D 20

💡 Hint

Remember the order of operations: powers first, then multiplication and subtraction.

The code calculates 5^2 - 4*3 + 7 = 25 - 12 + 7 = 20.

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Division and modulus output

What is the output of this MATLAB code snippet?

MATLAB

x = 17;
y = 5;
q = floor(x / y);
r = mod(x, y);
disp([q, r]);

A [4 1]

B [3 1]

C [3 2]

D [4 2]

💡 Hint

Use floor division for quotient and mod for remainder.

17 divided by 5 is 3.4. Floor division gives 3.

Remainder is 17 - 5*3 = 2.

So output is [3 2].

❓ Predict Output

advanced

Result of element-wise vs matrix multiplication

What is the output of this MATLAB code?

MATLAB

A = [1 2; 3 4];
B = [2 0; 1 3];
C = A .* B;
D = A * B;
disp(C);
disp(D);

A

[2 0; 3 12]
[4 6; 10 12]

B

[2 0; 3 12]
[2 0; 1 3]

C

[3 2; 4 7]
[4 6; 10 12]

D

[3 2; 4 7]
[2 0; 1 3]

💡 Hint

Remember that .* is element-wise multiplication and * is matrix multiplication.

Element-wise multiplication multiplies each element individually:

C = [1*2 2*0; 3*1 4*3] = [2 0; 3 12]

Matrix multiplication:

D = [1*2+2*1 1*0+2*3; 3*2+4*1 3*0+4*3] = [4 6; 10 12]

❓ Predict Output

advanced

Output of combined arithmetic and logical operations

What is the output of this MATLAB code?

MATLAB

x = 4;
y = 7;
z = (x > 3) + (y < 5) * 10;
disp(z);

A 11

B 1

C 10

D 0

💡 Hint

Logical expressions return 1 for true and 0 for false. Multiplication has higher precedence than addition.

(x > 3) is true (1), (y < 5) is false (0).

Multiplication has higher precedence: 0 * 10 = 0, then 1 + 0 = 1.

❓ Predict Output

expert

Output of chained arithmetic with parentheses

What is the output of this MATLAB code?

MATLAB

a = 2;
b = 3;
c = 4;
d = a + b * c ^ a - (b + c) * a;
disp(d);

A 36

B 10

C 2

D -4

💡 Hint

Remember the order: parentheses, exponentiation, multiplication/division, addition/subtraction.

Step by step:
c ^ a = 4^2 = 16
b * 16 = 3 * 16 = 48
(b + c) * a = (3 + 4) * 2 = 14
a + 48 - 14 = 2 + 48 - 14 = 36