Control Flow: if, for, while

Conditionals

x = 7;
if x > 5
  disp('big')
elseif x == 5
  disp('exactly five')
else
  disp('small')
end

for loops

total = 0;
for i = 1:5
  total = total + i;
end
disp(total)

while loops

n = 1;
while n < 100
  n = n * 2;
end
disp(n)

Why This Matters for Your Exams

MATLAB is vectorized — a lot of the time, an operation on a whole vector (like sum(v) from Unit 1) replaces what would otherwise be a for loop. Knowing both means you can write the short vectorized version AND understand/debug a loop-based one when a problem specifically asks for it.

Try it yourself