Values closest to a number

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cfjunior
cfjunior on 27 Apr 2013
How do I find the two closest numbers from a number in a vector column? For example, suppose I have:
A = [2 3 5 6 9 10 23 45 100]';
If the number I'm seaching is 7, my requested answer would be 6 and 9.
  1 Comment
bym
bym on 27 Apr 2013
why wouldn't it return 5 & 6? 5 is as close as 9

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Accepted Answer

Wayne King
Wayne King on 27 Apr 2013
Edited: Wayne King on 27 Apr 2013
It looks like you are looking for the closest numbers where one is below 7 and one is above. If that is the case.
A = [2 3 5 6 9 10 23 45 100]';
num = 7;
closest_below = max(A(A<num));
closest_above = min(A(A>num));
because otherwise, 5 is just as close to 7 as 9 is.
  1 Comment
cfjunior
cfjunior on 27 Apr 2013
Yes, thats what I need!! Thanks a lot!!

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More Answers (1)

the cyclist
the cyclist on 27 Apr 2013
There are many possible ways to do this. Here is one way.
A = [2 3 5 6 9 10 23 45 100]';
v = 7;
idx_hi = find(A>7,1,'first');
twoClosest = A([idx_hi-1,idx_hi])
I assumed that your A vector was sorted, that all values are unique, etc. You want to be careful if these conditions are not met.

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