What operator is used to perform element-wise multiplication in MATLAB?

The operator used for element-wise multiplication in MATLAB is the period-asterisk combination, which is denoted as .*. This operator allows for the multiplication of corresponding elements in two arrays of the same size, following the rules of matrix arithmetic but applying them element-wise.

For instance, if you have two matrices, A and B, using A .* B will multiply each element in A with the corresponding element in B, rather than performing matrix multiplication, which would typically be done using just the asterisk (*). This distinction is fundamental in MATLAB, especially when dealing with arrays or matrices where you intend to operate on individual elements rather than the matrices as a whole.

Thus, when working with arrays in MATLAB and needing to multiply their elements together directly, using .*, ensures that you achieve the desired results without encountering dimensional issues that occur with standard matrix multiplication.