FROM: https://uk.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/12461-strings-and-numbers-in-the-same-matrix
If you want to store numbers and strings in the same object, use a CELL:
C = cell(2, 2); C{1, 1} = 1; C{1, 2} = rand(10); C{2, 1} = 'Hello'; C{2, 2} = {'This', 'is', 'a', 'sentence', 'as', 'cellstring'};