I need some help with understanding the '2' close to the second d

Hello, still in the learning phase of my matlab journey

a = [1 2 3 4 5]
asq = a.*a
for i =1:5
fprintf ('The square of %d is 2d\n', a(i), asq(i))
end

Answer 1

[madhan ravi]

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/fprintf.html#btf8xsy-1_sep_shared-formatSpec - it's used for printing values see the link for better understanding , your missing % in front. Also have a look at https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/sprintf.html#btf_b35

fprintf ('The square of %d is %2d\n', a(i), asq(i)) % edited after steven's comment loop can be avoided 
                               ^---denotes space to the right 

[Reuben Addison]

Thank you :)

[madhan ravi]

Anytime :)

[Stephen23]

@madhna ravi: how did you actually test your answer?:

>> fprintf ('The square of %d is %2d\n', a.', asq.')
The square of 1 is  2
The square of 3 is  4
The square of 5 is  1
The square of 4 is  9
The square of 16 is 25

Since when does 16 squared give 25 ? Or 4 squared give 9 ?

See my answer for the correct, tested solution.

[madhan ravi]

Yes but then I thought I changed it but then you posted it as an answer thank you though for reminding.

Answer 2

[Stephen23]

>> fprintf ('The square of %d is %2d\n', [a;asq])
The square of 1 is  1
The square of 2 is  4
The square of 3 is  9
The square of 4 is 16
The square of 5 is 25

The reason is simple: MATLAB operates down the columns first, so by creating this matrix

>> [a;asq]
ans =
    1    2    3    4    5
    1    4    9   16   25

the fprintf will process them in order 1, 1, 2, 4, 3, 9, 4, 16, 5, 25. And each consecutive pair of those gets printed by that format string, because it specifies two number formats.