Error typing ^ (power function) on Mac OS

Hello, when I try to evaluate '^' (power function, like 2^x for example) I recive an error, and the function do not evaluate! I think that is a OS problem, becouse when I type ´^´, it is a small symbol that when I copy and paste from code samples that run.

[Steven Lord]

What is the full text of the error message (everything displayed in red?)

[Denis Bopp]

Hello, sorry for delay, I got this:

>> xˆ2
 xˆ2
  ↑
Error: The input character is not valid in MATLAB statements or expressions.

In my tryouts I noticed that I need to press spacebar after put ^ to get this function recognized. This solved my problem. Thanks!

[Lakshman Gandhi]

Thanks Denis! Saved my day.

[Denis Bopp]

:-)

Answer 1

[Lauri Solja]

So yeah, I'm having what I think is the same problem. If I type the power formulta to MatLab it gives me the non-ASCII error for the ^ symbol, which looks like a "small power". If I copy a "large power" from lets say this thread everything works. What to do? I dont want to keep the "large power" on my clipboard at all times.

PS. When I type the power in quotes "ˆ" in to this it looks like the small power but if I just type it and press space it becomes large on, like this ^.

Edit. Typing in MatLab with space after the power it changes to large one also.

Answer 2

[Steven Lord]

From where are you copying the code samples? Were they written using a program that tries to do some sort of smart formatting? On those occasions when I've tried to type code into Microsoft Word first, the smart replacement it tried to do ("smart quotes", in particular) have resulted in code that won't run when copied into MATLAB.

What happens if you replace that character with the typed ^ character (Shift-6)? Do you still receive the same error?

[Denis Bopp]

Thank you for your reply Steven, I wasn't able to execute this command when I simple do shift-6, I need to press space bar after this, if not do this, the command don't is executed and I get an error.

[James Tursa]

@Denis: Copy & paste your code into the editor, then manually replace the characters that appear to be ^ with manually typed ^ characters. I.e., physically backspace over them and then type the ^ character. Then run the code.

Answer 3

[NEIL Alfred]

t = linspace(0, 2*pi, 100);

y= t.^2 * cos(t);

g=sin(t);

figure(1);

plot(t,g)

xlabel('Time,S')

ylabel('Position,M')

grid on

[NEIL Alfred]

it keeps displaying an error and wont plot it and says its an error with the t.^2