Finding second smallest element in a row.

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I have a row
X = [441 137 594 507 417 581 312 362 263 151 472 512 129 70 298 255 442 574 289 157 0];
I want to find the second smallest (non zero) element from X along with the column number.

Accepted Answer

Azzi Abdelmalek
Azzi Abdelmalek on 29 Aug 2016
Edited: Azzi Abdelmalek on 29 Aug 2016
X = [441 137 594 507 417 581 312 362 263 151 472 512 129 70 298 255 442 574 289 157 0];
out=min(setdiff(X,min(X)))
or
M=sort(X)
out=M(2)
  2 Comments
Ananya Malik
Ananya Malik on 29 Aug 2016
I also wand the index of the element. i.e the column of occurrence.
Azzi Abdelmalek
Azzi Abdelmalek on 29 Aug 2016
X = [441 137 594 507 417 581 312 362 263 151 472 512 129 70 298 255 442 574 289 157 0];
[out,idx]=sort(X)
val=out(2)
index=idx(2)

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More Answers (1)

Guillaume
Guillaume on 29 Aug 2016
If by 2nd smallest you mean 2nd smallest distinct value:
A = [1 0 1 2 1 4 2 3];
uA = unique(nonzeros(A)); %does sorting and remove duplicates
small2distinct = uA(2)
If by 2nd smallest you do mean 2nd smallest, so if the minimum is repeated twice, you do want the minimum:
A = [1 0 1 2 1 4 2 3];
sA = sort(nonzeros(A)); %then use plain sort
small2 = sA(2)
So, nonzeros to get all the non zero values, then sort or unique to sort the values, then take the 2nd one.

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