How can I extract non-consecutive indices from a vector?

In 5.2 Extracting Multiple Elements, Further practice "Indices can be non-consecutive numbers. Try extracting the first, third, and sixth elements of density." How?

15 Comments

there is also a long way around
p=[density(1) density(3) density(6)]
p = transpose([density(1) density(3) density(6)])
Could someone explain the logic behind the parenthese and the brackets. like why is it in that order and what does each mean?
@Edward li: In this case, the parentheses are used for indexing, and the square brackets are used for array concatenation. [1,3,6] concatenates the scalars 1, 3, and 6 into a single vector, and density([1,3,6]) gets the elements of density at the indices stored in that vector.
See the Special Characters section of this page for more information:

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 Accepted Answer

If you have a density array (d), then to extract the 1,3,6 elements:
extracted_elements=d([1,3,6]);

21 Comments

extracted_elements=density([1,3,6])
It didn´t work
If it doesn't try updating all the tasks first then try again.
This worked for me..
p = [density(1);density(3);density(6)]
MathWorks needs to work on this on-ramp. This was clear as mud, as they say...
Yes, I was confused too. I'm 99% sure this notation was not covered in the preceding material.
k=[1 3 6]
extracted_elements=density(k)
it worked because we couldn't specify from the syntax which elements the code should extract. we solved this problem by assigning positions to vector or making them an element
parentheses and inside brackets was the solution all along... I have spent 30 minutes trying to figure out without looking it up. cheers David
it can be done without commas
no it can't. It only worked for me when I used commas.
@Viktoriia observe it working without commas below:
d = 10 : 10 : 60 % Sample data vector.
d = 1×6
10 20 30 40 50 60
extracted_elements = d([1 3 6]) % Get only some of the elements
extracted_elements = 1×3
10 30 60
If you execute that code on your computer what do you see? If you executed different code than above, without commas, then what was that code?
yes its working thank you so much

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More Answers (8)

density(3)
% extract third element
when we use [ ] square bracket, it extracting specific index position values.
so answer is
extracted_elements = density( [ 1, 3, 6 ] );
p = density(1), density(3), density(6)

2 Comments

While this does literally what the question requests "...extract non-consecutive indices from a vector", it only assigns the first of the comma-separated list to p, which is unlikely to give the desired effect, nor is it likely to be what the homework task requires.

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density = [5 8 9 7 8 4 5 9 8 7]
density = 1×10
5 8 9 7 8 4 5 9 8 7
p = density([1 3 5])
p = 1×3
5 9 8
Extracting Multiple Elements
Instructions are in the task pane to the left. Complete and submit each task one at a time.
This code sets up the activity.
data = [3 0.53 4.0753 NaN;18 1.78 6.6678 2.1328;19 0.86 1.5177 3.6852;20 1.6 3.6375 8.5389;21 3 4.7243 10.157;23 6.11 9.0698 2.8739;38 2.54 5.30023 4.4508]
data = 7×4
3.0000 0.5300 4.0753 NaN 18.0000 1.7800 6.6678 2.1328 19.0000 0.8600 1.5177 3.6852 20.0000 1.6000 3.6375 8.5389 21.0000 3.0000 4.7243 10.1570 23.0000 6.1100 9.0698 2.8739 38.0000 2.5400 5.3002 4.4508
density = data(:,2)
density = 7×1
0.5300 1.7800 0.8600 1.6000 3.0000 6.1100 2.5400
x = density([1,3,6])
x = 3×1
0.5300 0.8600 6.1100
This code sets up the activity.
data = [3 0.53 4.0753 NaN;18 1.78 6.6678 2.1328;19 0.86 1.5177 3.6852;20 1.6 3.6375 8.5389;21 3 4.7243 10.157;23 6.11 9.0698 2.8739;38 2.54 5.30023 4.4508]
data = 7×4
3.0000 0.5300 4.0753 NaN 18.0000 1.7800 6.6678 2.1328 19.0000 0.8600 1.5177 3.6852 20.0000 1.6000 3.6375 8.5389 21.0000 3.0000 4.7243 10.1570 23.0000 6.1100 9.0698 2.8739 38.0000 2.5400 5.3002 4.4508
To extract the first, third, and sixth elements of density, use [1 3 6] as an index.
density = [1 3 6]
density = 1×3
1 3 6
data(density)
ans = 1×3
3 19 23

Asked:

on 5 Apr 2020

Commented:

on 7 Jul 2025

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