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Matlab function area() not working

The in-build matlab function area() stopped working. I tried to run the example from the documentation:

Y = [1, 5, 3;
     3, 2, 7;
     1, 5, 3;
     2, 6, 1];
figure
area(Y)

but I would get the error message 

Error using area (line 35)
Too many input arguments.

I am using 8.5.0.197613 (R2015a).

Solution

  • This CW answer was created to indicate that this question was resolved.
    This turned out to be an issue related to the MATLAB search path. Using restoredefaultpath resolved it.

    A symptom of this problem can appear when running which -all <function name> (without the <>), and getting back a list with unexpected entries.

    From the documentation of which:

    The results are ordered according to the Function Precedence Order, unless they are shadowed. Among shadowed results, you should not rely on the order of the functions and methods in str. To determine if a result is shadowed, call which without specifying an output. which indicates shadowed results by the comment, % Shadowed.