Can someone please help me know what's wrong with my code? because it doesn't show the right graph !

that's what i have done on Matlab, but I can't get the right graph for the question.

first I created a function :

function [y]=discontinuity(x,a,n,c)
s=length(a);
y=zeros(s,1);
for i=1:s
if x(i)>=a
y(i)=((x(i)-a)^n)/c;
else
y(i)=0;
end
end
end

Then, I created a script

x=0:0.5:360;
y=zeros(length(x),1);
for i=1:length(x)
  y(i)= -((100/24)*x(i))^4+(8500/6)*x(i)^3-27.30e6*x(i)+(100/24)*discontinuity(x(i),120,4,29e6*110)-(2000/6)*discontinuity(x(i),180,3,29e6*110)+(9500/6)*discontinuity(x(i),240,3,29e6*110)-(4000/6)*discontinuity(x(i),300,3,29e6*110);
end
plot(x,y)
grid on
xlabel('distance in inches')
ylabel('deflection in inches')

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

This function:

function y = discontinuity(x,a,n)
y = max(0,x-a).^n;
end

and this script:

x = 0:0.5:360;
y = 1/(29e6 * 110) * (...
  - (100/24)*x.^4 + (8500/6)*x.^3 - 27.30e6*x...
  + (100/24)*discontinuity(x,120,4)...
  - (2000/6)*discontinuity(x,180,3)...
  + (9500/6)*discontinuity(x,240,3)...
  - (4000/6)*discontinuity(x,300,3));
plot(x,y)
grid on
xlabel('distance in inches')
ylabel('deflection in inches')

gives:

MATLAB is a beautiful high-level language. Don't make it slow and ugly by trying to solve every task using loops, as if it were some low-level language like C:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/vectorization.html

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/228557-experts-of-matlab-how-did-you-learn-any-advice-for-beginner-intermediate-users

[Rehab Mohamed`]

Thanks for your help, but shouldn't the graph be like this one? because my professor said that the graph should look like this one!

[Stephen23]

Ask your professor how their beam continues to bend after 300 inches along the beam, even though there is no force on the beam shown in the diagram after that point. Some magic seems to be involved in bending your professor's beam: