Comparison operators in MATLAB - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

What is the output of this MATLAB code using comparison operators?

Consider the following MATLAB code snippet. What will be the output displayed in the command window?

MATLAB

a = 5;
b = 10;
result = (a >= 5) & (b < 10);
disp(result);

A 1

B Logical array with elements [1 0]

C 0

D Error: Undefined function or variable 'result'.

💡 Hint

Remember that & is the element-wise AND operator and both conditions must be true.

The first condition (a >= 5) is true (1), but the second condition (b < 10) is false (0). Using & operator, true & false results in false (0). So, the output is 0.

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

What does this MATLAB code output when comparing arrays?

What will be the output of this MATLAB code?

MATLAB

x = [1 2 3 4];
y = [1 3 2 4];
result = x == y;
disp(result);

A [1 0 0 1]

B [0 1 1 0]

C 1

D Error: Matrix dimensions must agree.

💡 Hint

The == operator compares elements at the same positions.

The comparison x == y checks each element: 1==1 (true=1), 2==3 (false=0), 3==2 (false=0), 4==4 (true=1). So the output is [1 0 0 1].

❓ Predict Output

advanced

What is the output of this MATLAB code using relational operators with matrices?

Given the following code, what will be the output?

MATLAB

A = [1 4; 3 2];
B = [2 3; 3 5];
result = A < B;
disp(result);

A [1 1; 0 1]

B [0 0; 0 0]

C [1 1; 1 1]

D [1 0; 0 1]

💡 Hint

The < operator compares each element of A with the corresponding element of B.

Comparisons: 1<2 (1), 4<3 (0), 3<3 (0), 2<5 (1). So the result matrix is [1 0; 0 1], which is option D.

❓ Predict Output

advanced

What is the output of this MATLAB code using the '==' operator with strings?

What will this code display?

MATLAB

str1 = 'hello';
str2 = 'Hello';
result = str1 == str2;
disp(result);

A [1 0 0 0 0]

B [0 1 1 1 1]

C [0 0 0 0 0]

D Error: Matrix dimensions must agree.

💡 Hint

The == operator compares characters by their ASCII codes.

Comparing 'h' (ASCII 104) with 'H' (ASCII 72) is false (0), so option B is incorrect. Actually, the first characters differ, so first element is 0. The rest: 'e'=='e' (1), 'l'=='l' (1), 'l'=='l' (1), 'o'=='o' (1). So output is [0 1 1 1 1].

❓ Predict Output

expert

What is the output of this MATLAB code using logical operators with mixed data types?

Analyze the following code and determine the output.

MATLAB

a = [true false true];
b = [1 0 2];
result = a & (b > 1);
disp(result);

A [0 0 1]

B [1 0 1]

C Error: Matrix dimensions must agree.

D [1 1 1]

💡 Hint

Logical AND & works element-wise and b > 1 returns a logical array.

b > 1 is [false false true] or [0 0 1]. a is [true false true] or [1 0 1]. Element-wise AND: 1&0=0, 0&0=0, 1&1=1. So result is [0 0 1].