title: Inputting Excel file into Matlab
body: <p>I wanted to create a matrix with relevant information from an excel file in Matlab, however, when I read in the excel using:</p>
  
  <pre><code>data = xlsread(FILENAME); 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>My values for the "dates" are converted to <code>NaN</code></p>
  
  <p>Sample input excel file:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>[Cell A1] = 12/20/2010</li>
  <li>[Cell A2] = 2/20/2011</li>
  <li>[Cell A3] = 25</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>However, when I read this into the variable using:</p>
  
  <pre><code>data = xlsread(FILENAME); 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>My values in the matrix are:</p>
  
  <pre><code>NaN NaN 25
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Is there a way to change this? I Need the dates.</p>
  
  <pre><code>Values in raw:
  
  Cell 1         Cell 2       Cell 3   Cell 4       Cell 5
  'Date'        'Expiration' 'Strike' 'Implied Vol' 'Days'
  '01/31/2012'  '02/03/2012'  21       .672          3 
  '02/1/2012'   '02/03/2012'  21       .231          2
  [...]          [...]        [..]     [...]         [...] //1000 more values
  </code></pre>