Editing MATLAB (section)

===Variables===
[[Variable (computer science)|Variables]] are defined using the [[Assignment (computer science)|assignment]] operator, <code>=</code>. 

MATLAB is a [[Strong and weak typing|weakly typed]] programming language because [[Data type|types]] are implicitly converted.<ref>{{cite web|title=Comparing MATLAB with Other OO Languages|url=http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_oop/matlab-vs-other-oo-languages.html|work=MATLAB|publisher=MathWorks|access-date=August 14, 2013}}</ref>  It is an [[Type inference|inferred]] [[Type system|typed language]] because variables can be assigned without declaring their type, except if they are to be treated as symbolic objects,<ref>{{cite web|title=Create Symbolic Variables and Expressions|url=http://www.mathworks.com/help/symbolic/creating-symbolic-variables-and-expressions.html|work=Symbolic Math Toolbox|publisher=MathWorks|access-date=August 14, 2013}}</ref> and that their type can change. 

Values can come from [[constant (computer science)|constant]]s, from computation involving values of other variables, or from the output of a [[Function (computer programming)|function]]. 

For example:
<syntaxhighlight lang="matlabsession">
>> x = 17
x =
 17

>> x = 'hat'
x =
hat

>> x = [3*4, pi/2]
x =
   12.0000    1.5708

>> y = 3*sin(x)
y =
   -1.6097    3.0000
</syntaxhighlight>