Memory use 5-D matrix

I'm trying to use 5-D matrices in Matlab (version 2012B) but I run out of memory. Following Matlab help section I created a file called memUsed.m and a test.m.

memUsed.m

[usr, sys] = memory;
usr.MemUsedMATLAB

test.m

format short eng;
memUsed

A = 10.24*ones(40,30,40,30,10);
memUsed
B = 10.24*ones(40,30,40,30,10);
memUsed
C = 10.24*ones(40,30,40,30,10);
memUsed
D = 10.24*ones(40,30,40,30,10);
memUsed
E = 10.24*ones(40,30,40,30,10);
memUsed

The matrices are about the size for my problem. This is the output of running test.m

ans =

   812.4621e+006


ans =

   927.6662e+006


ans =

     1.0429e+009


ans =

     1.1581e+009


ans =

     1.2733e+009


ans =

     1.3885e+009

So what I don't understand is that creating matrix A does not require much memory, neither the rest. However when creating matrix B the memory usage goes through the roof. Why is this? Can I fix this somehow?

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

812.4621e+006 is the same as 8.124621e+008 .

You are starting with 800 megabytes and you are adding a total of about 560 megabytes, ending up wiht about 1389 megabytes. There is no sudden jump in memory use.

[MC]

Jesus, my bad. Was obvious, moderator can remove the thread:) Thanks