What is the difference between mean(A,'omitnan') and nanmean(A) ?

314 views (last 30 days)
Hi, I have a vector A (or could be a matrix) which contains finite values as well as NaNs. I want to compute the mean value of its non-NaN elements. What is the difference between mean(A,'omitnan') and nanmean(A) ? Thank you!

Accepted Answer

Stephen23
Stephen23 on 19 Mar 2018
There is no practical difference for your vector.
Personally I would use mean, because nanmean is part of the Statistics Toolbox, so using it makes your code less portable.
  2 Comments
Nathan Williamson
Nathan Williamson on 2 May 2020
On a related note, in my code I found median(A,'omitnan') to run significantly faster than nanmedian(A). Not sure why. In the same code, mean(A,'omitnan') and nanmean(A) have a similar runtime.

Sign in to comment.

More Answers (1)

Walter Roberson
Walter Roberson on 19 Mar 2018
nanmean() existed first, as part of the Statistics Toolbox.
Later 'omitnan' was added as an option to the regular mean() as part of basic MATLAB. nanmean() should now be used mostly for backwards compatibility.

Categories

Find more on Programming in Help Center and File Exchange

Products

Community Treasure Hunt

Find the treasures in MATLAB Central and discover how the community can help you!

Start Hunting!