How is this simple code read?

My code is as follows :

mat = [1 2 3 ; 4,5,6 ; 7 8 9];
mat([2 3], [2 3])

Question: Why is the output

5   6
8   9

and how is that determined?

Answer 1

[James Tursa]

It is the 2nd & 3rd rows and the 2nd & 3rd columns of the matrix mat. The syntax is simply extracting a sub-matrix of the original.

[Kent Le]

Thanks so much!