Problem in using 'break' and 'while'

I have problem in the while loop below. Looks like the break doesn't work, because sometimes R<=0.3 and s becomes one or bigger. What I need is that when R<=0.3 the loop should stop, and when R>0.3 a new x should be generated.

x= rand(); a=0; s=0;

while x>0.1
    R=rand();
    if R<= 0.3
        a=a+1;
        break
    else
        s=s+1;
        x=rand();
    end
end

Thanks,

Answer 1

[Matt Fig]

This will prove to you that the break statement does work:

x= rand(); 
a=0; 
s=0;

while 1  % Infinite loop? If break doesn't work then yes!
    R=rand();
    if R<= 0.3
        a=a+1;
        break  % The only way out of the loop...
    else
        s=s+1;
        x=rand();
    end
end

When I run this, I always get a=1 (as expected), and s ranges form 0 to 6 on average. But the break statement is clearly working...

[Jalali]

Thanks. What does 'while 1' mean?

[Matt Fig]

1 always evaluates to "true" when used as a conditional.

if 1,disp('Inside IF'),end  % Change 1 to 0 and re-try!

Thus the only way out of the loop is with the break statement. I set it up that way so that we know for sure the break statement worked.

[Image Analyst]

You could also use true instead of 1 - maybe using true would have made it more understandable???

[Matt Fig]

true

;-)