Why Does numel() Accept More than One Argument?

@doc:numel indicates that the function accepts only a single argument. But it can be called with more than one argument and it returns a result.

which numel(rand(3),rand(5))

built-in (/MATLAB/toolbox/matlab/elmat/@double/numel)  % double method

numel(rand(3),rand(5))  % return numel of the second argument?

ans = 25

which numel(rand(3),rand(5),rand(4))

built-in (/MATLAB/toolbox/matlab/elmat/@double/numel)  % double method

numel(rand(3),rand(5),rand(4))  % returns ?

ans = 400

[DGM]

Very interesting!

EDIT:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/864095-is-numel-supposed-to-accept-more-than-one-input-argument#answer_732355

[Paul]

Thanks for the link.

Answer 1

[Animesh]

Hey @Paul,

When the numel function in MATLAB is called with more than one input argument, it returns the product of number of elements in the parameters after the first.

Hence the following code snippet returns 400, i.e. "numel ( rand ( 5 ) ) * numel ( rand ( 4 ) )":

numel(rand(3),rand(5),rand(4))

ans = 400

numel(rand(5)) * numel(rand(4))

ans = 400

You can refer the following MATLAB Answer for more information:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/864095