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

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!

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

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.

[LeChat]

ok. It is the feeling I had. Thanks a lot!

[Nathan Williamson]

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.

Answer 2

[Walter Roberson]

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.