error_ellipse

Plot an error ellipse depicting confidence interval given a covariance matrix.

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% ERROR_ELLIPSE - plot an error ellipse, or ellipsoid, defining
% confidence region
% ERROR_ELLIPSE(C22) - Given a 2x2 covariance matrix, plot the
% associated error ellipse, at the origin. It returns a graphics handle
% of the ellipse that was drawn.
%
% ERROR_ELLIPSE(C33) - Given a 3x3 covariance matrix, plot the
% associated error ellipsoid, at the origin, as well as its projections
% onto the three axes. Returns a vector of 4 graphics handles, for the
% three ellipses (in the X-Y, Y-Z, and Z-X planes, respectively) and for
% the ellipsoid.
%
% ERROR_ELLIPSE(C,MU) - Plot the ellipse, or ellipsoid, centered at % MU, a vector whose length should match that of C (which is 2x2
% or 3x3).
%
% ERROR_ELLIPSE(...,'Property1',Value1,'Name2',Value2,...) sets
% the values of specified properties, including:
% 'C' - Alternate method of specifying the covariance matrix
% 'mu' - Alternate method of specifying the ellipse (-oid) center
% 'conf' - A value betwen 0 and 1 specifying the confidence interval.
% the default is 0.5 which is the 50% error ellipse.
% 'scale' - Allow the plot the be scaled to difference units.
% 'style' - A plotting style used to format ellipses.
% 'clip' - specifies a clipping radius. Portions of the ellipse, -oid,
% outside the radius will not be shown.
%
% NOTES: C must be positive definite for this function to work
% properly.

Cite As

AJ Johnson (2026). error_ellipse (https://ch.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/4705-error_ellipse), MATLAB Central File Exchange. Retrieved .

General Information

MATLAB Release Compatibility

  • Compatible with any release

Platform Compatibility

  • Windows
  • macOS
  • Linux
Version Published Release Notes Action
1.0.0.0

Updated license.
Added white paper describing the math behind the confidence region computations.
Fixed major blunder: missing function.