Help calling my basic function

So I wrote the following in a script coding window:

function [n] = n(x)

syms q

[n]=(q^(x/2)-q^(-x/2))/(q^(1/2)-q^(-1/2));

end

however I named the file QuantumInteger.m

When i type n(7) into the command window it says that the function is not defined.. but when i type QuantumInteger(7) it does work.

I would prefer the file name to be QuantumInteger.m but to be able to call the function just by typing n(5)

How do I do this? Thanks

Answer 1

[Steve Eddins]

You must use the filename as the function name when calling your function. MATLAB will not pay attention to the "n" inside the file.

If, in your calling code, you would like to use n(7) as "shorthand" for calling your QuantumInteger function, you can make n an anonymous function:

n = @(x) QuantumInteger(x);
n(7)

ans =

    (1/q^(7/2) - q^(7/2))/(1/q^(1/2) - q^(1/2))

Answer 2

[Steven Lord]

That is the correct and documented behavior. See the first Note on this documentation page.

You could do this by either creating an n.m file that simply calls QuantumInteger:

function y = n(x)
y = QuantumInteger(x);
end

or by defining a function handle:

n = @QuantumInteger;