Double-precision arrays
double is the default numeric data type (class) in
MATLAB®, providing sufficient precision for most computational tasks. Numeric
variables are automatically stored as 64-bit (8-byte) double-precision floating-point
values. For example:
x = 10;
whos xName Size Bytes Class Attributes x 1x1 8 double
MATLAB constructs the double data type according to
IEEE® Standard 754 for double precision. The range for a negative number of type
double is between -1.79769 x 10308 and
-2.22507 x 10-308, and the range for positive numbers is
between 2.22507 x 10-308 and 1.79769 x
10308.
For more information on double- and single-precision floating-point values, see Floating-Point Numbers.
You create a double-precision array automatically when you assign a numeric scalar or
array to a variable, such as A = [1 2 3; 4 5 6]. The variable
A has type double. For more information on
creating and combining arrays, see Creating, Concatenating, and Expanding Matrices. In addition, operations on double-precision variables and functions with
double-precision input typically return double-precision values, such as
+ or sin.
If you have an array of a different data type, such as single or
int8, then you can convert that array to double precision using
the double function, which then stores the array with more precision
for further computations.
When you are creating a class, overload double when it
makes sense to convert an object of that class to a double-precision
value.