# randn (Matlab function)

Normally distributed random numbers and arrays

## Matlab/Scilab equivalent

Matlab | Scilab

    randn(A)

    rand(A,"normal")

## Particular cases

The Matlab expression B=randn(A) is translated into Scilab by B=rand(A,"normal"):

  If A is a scalar, then Matlab returns a A*A random matrix but in Scilab you get a single random value, use rand(A,A,"normal") to get the same matrix B. Finally, if A is a matrix, in Scilab, B will be a matrix having the same size as A whereas in Matlab, you get an error message.

Note that in Matlab, A can contain complex values (in these cases, only real part of A is taken in account), what Scilab function do not tolerate.

Particular case: To get the state of the normal generator, in Matlab you have to use s=randn('state') to get 2 current values of the generator, but Scilab equivalent s=rand("seed") return only one value.