What's the difference between {} and [] in MATLAB?

Question

>> A={1 2;2 3}

A = 

    [1]    [2]
    [2]    [3]
>> A=[1 2;2 3]

A =

     1     2
     2     3

It seems to me they are essentially

Answer 1

Elements of different data types which get inside {} become cells or elements of data type cell. Elements inside [] retain their data type and make an array of that data type. Few examples below:

p = ['my', 'string'];
q = [int8(1), int8(2), int8(3)];
r = [0.11, 0.22, 0.33];
s = {'my', 'string'};
t = {1,2,3};
u = {0.11, 0.22, 0.33};
v = {int8(1), int8(2), int8(3)};

>> whos
  Name      Size            Bytes  Class     Attributes

  p         1x8                16  char                
  q         1x3                 3  int8                
  r         1x3                24  double              
  s         1x2               240  cell                
  t         1x3               360  cell                
  u         1x3               360  cell                
  v         1x3               339  cell