date2num_m — transforms a matrix of dates into numbers
num=date2num_m(dat)
dat = a matrix of dates strings
indw = 'w' if the date is given as a day date but corresponds to a week (optional)
num = the numerical representation of the dates
1) v = date2num_m(['1a' '2a' '3a' '4a']) 2) v = date2num_m(string([1:4])+'a') 3) v= date2num_m(['1975q1'; '1985q2']) The first 2 examples give the same result: the vector [1:4] Note: 1] the transformation of the constant vector [1:4] into the corresponding string 2] the fact that in scilab you can add a (1x1) matrix-here the car 'a'- to any vector or matrix, the (1x1) is then added to every entry of this matrix): the (1x4) vector [1:4] = [1 2 3 4]. The third example gives the (2x1) vector [7901; 7942]