matlab的piecewise,Piecewise functions in MATLAB

I have only recently began working with MATLAB for Uni this year, and as a homework quiz question I was asked to create a piecewise function (that I have called "piecewise_method") that is able to enact a different equation on "x" depending on if "x" is below 0, between 0 and 8, or above 8. Here is the code I have written so far.

function solution = piecewise_method(x)

% given the value of the input x, the function

% piecewise_method will choose from one of the three specified

% equations to enact upon the given value of x

% and give the user a solution

solution = zeros(size(x));

e = exp(1);

for j = 1:size(x)

a = x(j);

if a < 0

solution(j) = -a.^3 - 2*a.^2 + 3*a;

elseif (a >= 0) && (a <= 8)

solution(j) = (12/pi)*sin(pi*a./4);

else

solution