How do I count non-zero entries in a vetor matrix

[frogger79]

I have a vector matrix with 20 entries. If I use the length(x)= ## comand it counts out the number of possible entires in my vector but I need it to only count the non-zero entries. I'm not very good with mathcad so does anyone have any suggestions?

I've attached and example of what I have but someone before me wrote it so I don't understand how it works or what it's doing so therefore I can't duplicate it for a different vector were some of the entries are negative.

 

[ishvaaag]

You need to count them by inspection, i.e., build a subroutine that examines every number in the vector and adds to a counter that first is initialized to zero if and only if the current number is other than zero, then once examined all numbers produce the final status of the counter as output. Ensure that your tolerance identifies well what for you is a zero, otherwise you'll get wrong values by your criteria.

 

[Eyeoftheneedle]

frogger79

The attached file does it for you - hope this helps you. You needed to setup a loop (similar to what ishvaaag suggested).

 

[Eyeoftheneedle]

frogger79,
just re-read what you were looking for; i.e. non-zeros...

To do this you need to change the 'n' in the (n vn) term within the loop to 'length(Space)-n' and then you'll have the number of non-zero terms in your data set.

Uploading MathCad died for some reason, hence the long-hand version shown in above paragraph...sorry!