convert milliseconds (ms) to seconds (s)
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looking for answers
on 26 Jul 2019
Commented: looking for answers
on 28 Jul 2019
Hello,
we have an array with stimuli onset times in milliseconds,
ms = [1600901 1970185 2340488 2710467 3080481 3449869]
and we want to convert those values to seconds with a specific format, that would be, 1600901/1000 = 1600.901.
But when I do that in MATLAB I get this result:
s = ms/1000
s =
1.0e+03 *
1.6009 1.9702 2.3405 2.7105 3.0805 3.4499
Is there a way to obtain this insead:
s = [1600.901 1970.185 2340.488 2710.467 3080.481 3449.869]
Thank you
0 Comments
Accepted Answer
Stephen23
on 26 Jul 2019
Edited: Stephen23
on 26 Jul 2019
>> format shortG
>> ms/1000
ans =
1600.9 1970.2 2340.5 2710.5 3080.5 3449.9
Or "longG":
>> format longG
>> ms/1000
ans =
1600.901 1970.185 2340.488 2710.467 3080.481 3449.869
The default is "short":
>> format short
>> ms/1000
ans =
1.0e+03 *
1.6009 1.9702 2.3405 2.7105 3.0805 3.4499
Note that none of these make any difference to the numeric values stored in your array. Do not confuse how numbers are displayed with what values are stored in a variable. These are two quite different things.
4 Comments
Guillaume
on 26 Jul 2019
You are indeed confusing the ways the number are stored and display.
Matlab store 1600.901 neither as 1600.901 or 1e3 * 1.6009. The way it is stored is actually irrelevant but it is stored as a binary fraction (1.1001000000111001101010011111101111100111011011001001b * 2 ^ 10, resolving to ~= 1.5633798828125 * 2^10) and there's nothing you can change about that. The actual decimal value stored in memory is 1600.9010000000000673026079312.
You are asking to change the way matlab displays the number to you, and for that you should use format shortg or format longg as answered by Stephen.
More Answers (1)
madhan ravi
on 26 Jul 2019
Edited: madhan ravi
on 26 Jul 2019
format longg
ms / 1000
doc format
3 Comments
madhan ravi
on 26 Jul 2019
Edited: madhan ravi
on 26 Jul 2019
See Stephen‘s valuable comment - https://in.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/473594-convert-milliseconds-ms-to-seconds-s#comment_728675
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