Why do I receive an error when raising a symbolic matrix to the zeroth power in the Symbolic Math Toolbox?

When I execute the following commands:

A = ones(3, 3);

A^0

I obtain the expected result:

 ans =

      1     0     0

      0     1     0

      0     0     1

However, when I convert "A" to a symbolic matrix, then raise it to the zeroth power:

A = sym(A);

A^0

I receive the following error:

 ??? Error using ==> sym.inv

 Error, (in inverse) singular matrix

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

This bug has been fixed in Release 14 Service Pack 3 (R14SP3). For previous product releases, read below for any possible workarounds:

We have verified that there is a bug in the Symbolic Math Toolbox in the way that an error is generated when raising a symbolic matrix to the zeroth power.

To work around this issue, you can use an IF-ELSE statement to recognize this case, and use the EYE function to create the necessary identity matrix. For example, if your code is raising a symbolic matrix to the "n"th power, where "n" is an arbitrary real number, use the following construct:

if n~=0

    B = A^n;

else

    B = sym(eye(size(A)));

end