Relational and Logical Operators

Lecture: 7 (Dr. Ajeet Kumar)

Table of Contents

Relational Operators................................................................................................................................................ 1
Scaler to Scaler................................................................................................................................................... 1
Scaler to Vector/Matrix........................................................................................................................................ 2
Row Vector to Row Vector..................................................................................................................................3
Column Vector to Column Vector....................................................................................................................... 3
Row Vector to Column Vector.............................................................................................................................4
Column Vector to Row Vector.............................................................................................................................4
Row Vector to Matrix...........................................................................................................................................5
Column Vector to Matrix......................................................................................................................................5
Matrix to Matrix.................................................................................................................................................... 6
Logical Operators.....................................................................................................................................................7

Relational Operators
 

Relational Operators are used to compare the scalers, vectors, Matrices and Strings.

Output of Relation Operator is always a logical 0 and 1.

"1" corresponds to TRUE condition and "0" corresponds to FALSE condition.

Scaler to Scaler
Output is always logical 0 or 1 depending on the applied condition is flase or true.

Example:

% When both operands are Scaler: Scaler to Scaler

1
 x=5,y=10,

x = 5
y = 10

z1=(x==y), z2=(x<y),z3=(x>y),z4=(x<=y),z5=(x>=y)

z1 = logical
0
z2 = logical
1
z3 = logical
0
z4 = logical
1
z5 = logical
0

Scaler to Vector/Matrix
Each element of Vector/Matrix is compared with the Scaler. As a result you get a Vector/Matrix of logical 0
and 1.  

% When one operand is scaler and other one is vector or Matrix: Scaler to Vector/Matrix
x=5, u=[ 1 2 3 5 10 12] % x is scaler and u is row vector

x = 5
u = 1×6
1 2 3 5 10 12

z1=(x>=u), z2=(x~=u)

z1 = 1×6 logical array

1 1 1 1 0 0
z2 = 1×6 logical array
1 1 1 0 1 1

x=10, A=[ 11 10 13; 15 4 6; 4 18 20 ]

x = 10
A = 3×3
11 10 13
15 4 6
4 18 20

z2=(x==A),z3=(x>A)

z2 = 3×3 logical array

0 1 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
z3 = 3×3 logical array
0 0 0
0 1 1

2
 1 0 0

Row Vector to Row Vector

Condition: Dimension of both row vectors should be same. 

As a result you get the a row vector having logical 0 and 1 elements

% When both operands are row vector: Row Vector to Row Vector
u_1=[15 17 13 18], u_2=[ 10 14 16 19]

u_1 = 1×4
15 17 13 18
u_2 = 1×4
10 14 16 19

z1=(u_1>u_2), z2=(u_1~=u_2)

z1 = 1×4 logical array

1 1 0 0
z2 = 1×4 logical array
1 1 1 1

Column Vector to Column Vector

Condition: Dimension of both column vectors should be same 

As a result you get the a column vector having logical 0 and 1 elements

% When both operands are column vector: Column Vector to Column Vector
v_1= [1;2;3; 16],v_2=[10; 1; 17; 23]

v_1 = 4×1
1
2
3
16
v_2 = 4×1
10
1
17
23

z1=(v_1<=v_2), z2=(v_1==v_2)

z1 = 4×1 logical array

1
0
1
1
z2 = 4×1 logical array
0
0

3
 0
0

Row Vector to Column Vector

When a row vector “u” of dimension 1-by-n is compared with a column vector “v” of dimension m-by-1, each
element of the row vector are compared with each element of column vector. As a result you get a logical
Matrix of dimension mxn.

% When one operand is row vector and other is column vector: Row Vector to Column Vector
u=[1 4 5 6], v=[2; 5; 7]

u = 1×4
1 4 5 6
v = 3×1
2
5
7

z1=(u<=v), z2=(u>v)

z1 = 3×4 logical array

1 0 0 0
1 1 1 0
1 1 1 1
z2 = 3×4 logical array
0 1 1 1
0 0 0 1
0 0 0 0

Column Vector to Row Vector

When a column vector “v” of dimension p-by-1 is compared with a row vector “u” of dimension 1-by-q, each
element of the row vector is compared with each element of column vector. As a result you get a logical
Matrix of dimension p-by-q.

% When one operand is column vector and other is row vector: Column Vector to Row Vector
v=[23; 34; 46; 11], u=[22 45 57]

v = 4×1
23
34
46
11
u = 1×3
22 45 57

z1=(v>=u), z2=(v~=u)

z1 = 4×3 logical array

1 0 0
1 0 0
1 1 0
0 0 0

4
 z2 = 4×3 logical array
1 1 1
1 1 1
1 1 1
1 1 1

Row Vector to Matrix

Condition: When you are comparing a row vector “u” of dimension 1-by-n with a matrix “A” of dimension m-
by-n, number of columns should be same.

Comparison is made column wise.

As a result you get a logical matrix of m-by-n.

% When one operand is row vector and other is matrix: Row Vector to Matrix
u=[11 17 20 23], A=[11 14 12 10; 14 16 34 23]

u = 1×4
11 17 20 23
A = 2×4
11 14 12 10
14 16 34 23

z1=(u<A), z2=(u>=A)

z1 = 2×4 logical array

0 0 0 0
1 0 1 0
z2 = 2×4 logical array
1 1 1 1
0 1 0 1

Column Vector to Matrix

Condition: When you are comparing a column vector “v” of dimension m-by-1 with a matrix “A” of dimension
m-by-n, number of rows should be same.

Comparison is made row wise.

As a result you get a logical matrix of m-by-n.

% When one operand is column vector and other is matrix: Column Vector to Matrix
v=[22; 34; 11;],A=[11 35; 25 22; 45 10]

v = 3×1
22
34
11
A = 3×2
11 35
25 22
45 10

z1=(v>=A),z2=(v<A)

5
 z1 = 3×2 logical array
1 0
1 1
0 1
z2 = 3×2 logical array
0 1
0 0
1 0

Matrix to Matrix
Condition: dimension of both matrices should be same. 

Comparison is made element-by-element wise.

As a result you get a logical matrix of the dimension of given matrix.

% When both operands are matrix: Matrix to Matrix

A=[21 2 3; 4 7 9; 11 3 45], B=[11 34 23; 34 67 11; 23 34 67]

A = 3×3
21 2 3
4 7 9
11 3 45
B = 3×3
11 34 23
34 67 11
23 34 67

z1=(A>=B),z2=(A==B)

z1 = 3×3 logical array

1 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
z2 = 3×3 logical array
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0

Important Points 

• Be careful while using "==" operator. There is clear difference between "=" and "==".
• = refer to assign the value in new variable
• == refer to compare the operands
• ‘==’ operator gives logical output 1 when both the operands are exactly same. So one should be very
careful while using operator. 
• In case of Complex number, the operators >, <, >=, and <= use only the real part of the operands
in performing comparisons, while operators == and ~= test both real and imaginary parts of the
operands.

% Important points to remeber using relational operators (Decision-Making program)

x1=4.0000,x2=4.000010 % while equating two variables sometimes it is better to

6
 x1 = 4
x2 = 4.0000

% check abs(x1-x2)<= accuracy limit rather than x1==x2 (Wein's law varification)
z1=(x1==x2),z2=abs(x2-x1)<=10^-3 % See the difference in output

z1 = logical
0
z2 = logical
1

x=sin(2*pi),x==0

x = -2.4493e-16
ans = logical
0

% compare the complex no.

z1=2+3i;z2=2+3j;
z3=10+10i,z4=10+50i,

z3 = 10.0000 + 10.0000i
z4 = 10.0000 + 50.0000i

z1==z2 % check both real and imag part

ans = logical
1

z1>z2 % only check real part

ans = logical
0

Logical Operators
 

Truth Table of Logical Operators

7
Refer input 1 = TRUE, 0 = False

Logical Operators are also known as Boolean Operators.

For purpose of logical operations, Matlab treats an operand as true (logical 1), if it is non-zero value, and
false if it is zero (logical 0).

Similar rules of operation are applied on operands as in case of relational operators

x=[0 5 3 7],y=[0 -2 8 7],

x = 1×4
0 5 3 7
y = 1×4
0 -2 8 7

m=(x>y)&(x>4)

m = 1×4 logical array

0 1 0 0

n=x|y

n = 1×4 logical array

0 1 1 1

z=~(x|y)

z = 1×4 logical array

1 0 0 0

p=xor(x,y)

p = 1×4 logical array

0 0 0 0

% find the elements of the array that satisfies special condition

x=[1 2 5 7 90 34 10 11 15 19 20]

x = 1×11
1 2 5 7 90 34 10 11 15 19 20

% find out all the elements of vector x having values more than 2 and less than 15
x((x>2)&(x<15))

8
 ans = 1×4
5 7 10 11

A=[1 2 3; 23 45 12; 21 4 14],

A = 3×3
1 2 3
23 45 12
21 4 14
ans = 2×1
12
14

% find out all the elements of matrix A having value more than 4 and less than or equal to 14
A((A>4)&(A<=14))