# mad

mean absolute deviation

## Calling Sequence

    s2=mad(x)
                s2=mad(x,'r') or s2=mad(x,1)
                s2=mad(x,'c') or s2=mad(x,2)

## Arguments

x

  real or complex vector or matrix

## Description

This function computes the mean absolute deviation of a real or complex vector or matrix `x`.

For a vector or matrix `x`, `s2=mad(x)` returns in scalar `s2` the mean absolute deviation of all the entries of `x`.

`s2=mad(x,'r')` (or, equivalently, `s2=mad(x,1)`) returns in each entry of the column vector `s2` the mean absolute deviation of each column of `x`.

`s2=mad(x,'c')` (or, equivalently, `s2=mad(x,2)`) returns in each entry of the column vector `s2` the mean absolute deviation of each row of `x`.

## Examples

    x  = [2 2 3 4 14];

    // Mean absolute deviation of a set of data
    // Expected = (|2-5|+|2-5|+|3-5|+|4-5|+|14-5|) / 5 = 3.6
    mad(x)

## Bibliography

Reference: Wonacott T.H.& Wonacott R.J. .- Introductory Statistics, 5th edition, John Wiley, 1990.