explaining the output of datevec

HI all,

I have the following code

   numdays = datenum({'02/11/08'},'dd/mm/yy') - datenum({'09/10/11'},'dd/mm/yy')   
   numweeks28 = numdays / (7*4)
   numweeks28vec = datevec(numweeks28)

that produces numdays =

       -1071

numweeks28 =

-38.2500

numweek28svec =

    -1    11    22    18     0     0

It is not clear to m e what -1 11 22 18 0 0 of numweek28svec means? For example, what is -1,11,...?

Thanks

Answer 1

[Oleg Komarov]

The 4th line of datevec() syntax is:

[Y, M, D, H, MN, S] = datevec(...)

Where it's self-explanatory that

-1    11    22    18     0     0
 Y     M     D     H    MN     S

Now, the fact that you're doing SomeDate - DateInFuture, determines the negative sign.

Thus,

datevec(-38.25)

says which Year, Month, etc.. is that serial date.

For intuition, supose you are 3 days Before Christ. Datevec would say you're in the Year before BC (thus -1), in the 12th month, 22nd day etc... (assuming he was born the 25th Dec).

[antonet]

thank you very much

Answer 2

[per isakson]

datevec interprets a double as a serial date number.

numdays = -1071 says that the first date is 1071 days before the latter.

numweek28svec = datevec( -38.2500 ) should return something 38.25 days before something

minus 1 year plus 11 month plus 22 days plus 18 hours will add up in something like -38.25 days

However, many Matlab releases before now datevec didn't handle this kind of calculation.

One year is that a year with a leap day or not. IMO one should NOT use datevec like this.

[antonet]

thank you per isakson