symbolic math - How to have MATLAB display answer in decimals with e instead of fractions

Question

So im using MATLAB to calculate the coefficient of an equation and it keeps displaying fractions as the constants instead of decimal form like xxe-x My code is below

bt = 0.03175;
bpzt = 0.0078;
ht = 0.003;
w = 50; % frequency in Hz
pnic = 8908; % density of nickel
Enic = 200e9; % Young's modulus of nic
L = 0.3048; % Length of canitlever beam in m

syms hn

inertia = (1/12)*bt*ht^3 + (1/2)*bpzt*ht^2*hn - (1/2)*bpzt*ht*hn^2 + (2/3)*bpzt*hn^3

area = (bt*ht - 2*hn*bt + 2*bpzt*hn);

Answer 1

You are using the symbolic math toolbox. You have to convert any symbolic variable back to a numerical one. Use double(area) to get a double value of your symbolic variable area. You can use the function single, too. But be aware that hn has to get a value first, otherwise it cannot be determined.

Documentation: http://www.mathworks.com/help/symbolic/double.html

To format this output, use the usual Matlab tools. In your case format short e

More details: http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/display-format-for-numeric-values.html