A numeric constant may be a scalar a vector, or a matrix, and it may contain complex values.
The simplest form of a numeric constant a scalar, is a single number that can be an integer a decimal fraction, a number in scientific (exponential) notation or a complex number. Note that all numeric constants are represented within Octave in double-precision floating point format (complex constants are stored as pairs of double-precision floating point values). Here are some examples of real-valued numeric constants which all have the same value:
105
1.05e+2
1050e-1
To specify complex constants you can write an expression of the form
3 + 4i
3.0 + 4.0i
0.3e1 + 40e-1i
all of which are equivalent. The letter i in the previous example
stands for the pure imaginary constant defined as
sqrt (-1).
For Octave to recognize a value as the imaginary part of a complex
constant a space must not appear between the number and the i.
If it does Octave will print an error message, like this:
octave:13> 3 + 4 i
parse error:
3 + 4 i
^
You may also use j I, or J in place of the
i above. All four forms are equivalent.