Unusual NaN appearing from a loop

Hi there.

I've been trying to run a loop to calculate the quartiles for each of the four columns in a dataset. The loop is as given below:

sized = size(data);
for i = 1:4
Minimum(i,1) = min(data(:,i));
Quart2(i,1) = median(data(:,i));

if rem(sized(1),2) == 0 
Quart1(i,1) = median(data(data(:,1) < Quart2(i,1)));
Quart3(i,1) = median(data(Quart2(i,1) < data(:,i)));
else
Quart1(i,1) = median(Minimum(i,1): Quart2(i,1));
Quart3(i,1) = median((Quart2(i,1)):(max(data(:,i))));
end

Maximum(i,1) = max(data(:,i));
end

I'm generating a table of these results after the loop and I get something like this once I run the script:

The problem with this is that I don't know why the 'NaN' values appear here. When I run the line of code evaluating 'Quart1' independently in the command window for this very dataset, it gives me the correct value of 0. I'd be really grateful if someone could help me with this.

Thanks!

Answer 1

[OCDER]

It seems that you are taking the median of an empty number

%EXAMPLE
data = [1 2 3];
Quart2 = 4;
Quart1 = median(data(Quart2 < data));
Quart1 = 
    NaN

Double check that there is no empty values. Otherwise, replace NaN's with 0's.

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/fillmissing.html

[Nishant Karve]

Thanks for the response and the alternative.

It doesn't seem like I have missing values in the dataset. Just ran a check.

[OCDER]

When you do the logical index:

Quart2(i,1) < data(:,i)

It's possible that NO DATA agrees with this condition. So when you do this:

data(Quart2(i,1) < data(:,i)),

you get NO DATA, or an empty array, []. That's equivalent to doing this:

Quart1 = median([]) = NaN.

To fix, do this:

Quart1(isnan(Quart1)) = 0;