--- a/libinterp/corefcn/typecast.cc	Sat Sep 27 21:14:19 2014 -0700
+++ b/libinterp/corefcn/typecast.cc	Sat Sep 27 21:46:52 2014 -0700
@@ -90,10 +90,12 @@
 
 DEFUN (typecast, args, ,
        "-*- texinfo -*-\n\
-@deftypefn {Built-in Function} {} typecast (@var{x}, @var{class})\n\
+@deftypefn {Built-in Function} {@var{y} =} typecast (@var{x}, \"@var{class}\")\n\
 Return a new array @var{y} resulting from interpreting the data of\n\
-@var{x} in memory as data of the numeric class @var{class}.  Both the class\n\
-of @var{x} and @var{class} must be one of the built-in numeric classes:\n\
+@var{x} in memory as data of the numeric class @var{class}.\n\
+\n\
+Both the class of @var{x} and @var{class} must be one of the built-in\n\
+numeric classes:\n\
 \n\
 @example\n\
 @group\n\
@@ -120,7 +122,7 @@
 consecutive pairs of real numbers.  The sizes of integer types are given by\n\
 their bit counts.  Both logical and char are typically one byte wide;\n\
 however, this is not guaranteed by C++.  If your system is IEEE conformant,\n\
-single and double should be 4 bytes and 8 bytes wide, respectively.\n\
+single and double will be 4 bytes and 8 bytes wide, respectively.\n\
 @qcode{\"logical\"} is not allowed for @var{class}.  If the input is a row\n\
 vector, the return value is a row vector, otherwise it is a column vector.  \n\
 If the bit length of @var{x} is not divisible by that of @var{class}, an\n\
@@ -135,7 +137,7 @@
 @result{} [   1,   0, 255, 255]\n\
 @end group\n\
 @end example\n\
-@seealso{cast, bitunpack, bitpack, swapbytes}\n\
+@seealso{cast, bitpack, bitunpack, swapbytes}\n\
 @end deftypefn")
 {
   octave_value retval;
@@ -297,12 +299,17 @@
 DEFUN (bitpack, args, ,
        "-*- texinfo -*-\n\
 @deftypefn {Built-in Function} {@var{y} =} bitpack (@var{x}, @var{class})\n\
-Return a new array @var{y} resulting from interpreting an array\n\
+Return a new array @var{y} resulting from interpreting the logical array\n\
 @var{x} as raw bit patterns for data of the numeric class @var{class}.\n\
+\n\
 @var{class} must be one of the built-in numeric classes:\n\
 \n\
 @example\n\
 @group\n\
+\"double\"\n\
+\"single\"\n\
+\"double complex\"\n\
+\"single complex\"\n\
 \"char\"\n\
 \"int8\"\n\
 \"int16\"\n\
@@ -312,8 +319,6 @@
 \"uint16\"\n\
 \"uint32\"\n\
 \"uint64\"\n\
-\"double\"\n\
-\"single\"\n\
 @end group\n\
 @end example\n\
 \n\
@@ -327,7 +332,11 @@
 {
   octave_value retval;
 
-  if (args.length () == 2 && args(0).is_bool_type ())
+  if (args.length () != 2)
+    print_usage ();
+  else if (! args(0).is_bool_type ())
+    error ("bitpack: X must be a logical array");
+  else
     {
       boolNDArray bitp = args(0).bool_array_value ();
 
@@ -371,8 +380,6 @@
       if (! error_state && retval.is_undefined ())
         error ("bitpack: cannot pack to %s class", numclass.c_str ());
     }
-  else
-    print_usage ();
 
   return retval;
 }
@@ -407,11 +414,15 @@
 DEFUN (bitunpack, args, ,
        "-*- texinfo -*-\n\
 @deftypefn {Built-in Function} {@var{y} =} bitunpack (@var{x})\n\
-Return an array @var{y} corresponding to the raw bit patterns of\n\
-@var{x}.  @var{x} must belong to one of the built-in numeric classes:\n\
+Return a logical array @var{y} corresponding to the raw bit patterns of\n\
+@var{x}.\n\
+\n\
+@var{x} must belong to one of the built-in numeric classes:\n\
 \n\
 @example\n\
 @group\n\
+\"double\"\n\
+\"single\"\n\
 \"char\"\n\
 \"int8\"\n\
 \"int16\"\n\
@@ -421,8 +432,6 @@
 \"uint16\"\n\
 \"uint32\"\n\
 \"uint64\"\n\
-\"double\"\n\
-\"single\"\n\
 @end group\n\
 @end example\n\
 \n\