title: Difference between accessing cell elements using curly braces and parentheses
body: <p>What is the difference between accessing elements in a cell array using parentheses <code>()</code> and curly braces <code>{}</code>?</p>
  
  <p>For example, I tried to use  <code>cell{4} = []</code> and <code>cell(4) = []</code>. In the first case it sets the 4<sup>th</sup> element to <code>[]</code>, but in the second case it wiped out the cell element, that is, reduced the cell element count by 1.</p>