&
is a logical elementwise operator, while &&
is a logical short-circuiting operator (which can only operate on scalars).
For example (pardon my syntax).
If..
A = [True True False True]
B = False
A & B = [False False False False]
..or..
B = True
A & B = [True True False True]
For &&
, the right operand is only calculated if the left operand is true, and the result is a single boolean value.
x = (b ~= 0) && (a/b > 18.5)
Hope that's clear.