W.R. Wilcox, February 2006
Comparison of common formats in mathematics, MATLAB and Excel
(Assume that in MATLAB x has been given a value and in Excel the value of x is in cell A1 and y in cellA2.)
Mathematics
MATLAB
Excel
3x
3*x
=3*A1
x2
x^2
=A1^2
1  2x 2
log(x)
(1+2*x^2)/3/(4-5*x^4)
or
(1+2*x^2)/(3*(4-5*x^4))
log10(x)
=(1+2*A1^2)/3/(4-5*A1^4)
or
=(1+2*A1^2)/(3*(4-5*A1^4))
=log(A1)
ln(x)
log(x)
=ln(A1)
ex
exp(x)
=exp(A1)
π
pi
=pi()
cos2x
cos(x)^2
=cos(A1)^2
cos(x2)
cos(x^2)
=cos(A1^2)
x
sqrt(x)
=sqrt(A1)
|x|
abs(x)
=abs(A1)
5X1013
5e+13
5E+13
2X10-20
2e-20
2E-20
3(4  5x 4 )
If x > 1 set y=1, if x > 1
otherwise set
y=1
y=-1.
else
y=–1
end
If 3 < x ≤ 5 set if x > 3 & x <= 5
y=1, otherwise
y=1
set y=-1.
else
y = -1
end
Enter the following into cell
A2(y):
=IF(A1>1,1,-1)
(Search IF in Excel help)
Enter the following into cell
A2(y):
=IF(A1<=3,-1,
IF(A1>3,IF(A1<=5,1,-1)))
Note that for trigonometric functions in MATLAB and Excel, angles must be in radians rather than degrees.
To convert from degrees to radians multiply by /180.