MATLAB Function Reference

NaN

Not-a-Number

Syntax

NaN

Description

NaN returns the IEEE arithmetic representation for Not-a-Number (NaN). These result from operations which have undefined numerical results.

Examples

These operations produce NaN:

• Any arithmetic operation on a NaN, such as sqrt(NaN)
• Addition or subtraction, such as magnitude subtraction of infinities as (+Inf)+(-Inf)
• Multiplication, such as 0*Inf
• Division, such as 0/0 and Inf/Inf
• Remainder, such as rem(x,y) where y is zero or x is infinity

Remarks

Logical operations involving NaNs always return false, except ~= (not equal). Consequently, the statement NaN ~= NaN is true while the statement NaN == NaN is false.

See Also

Inf

munlock

nargchk