23.1.2 Functions
You have already seen functions defined with :=. For
example, to define a function sumprod which takes two inputs
and returns a list with the sum and the product of the inputs, you can
enter:
Afterwards, use this new function.
You can define functions that are computed with a sequence of
instructions by putting the instructions between braces,
where each command ends with a semicolon. To use local variables,
you can declare them with the local
keyword, followed by the
variable names. The value returned by the function will be indicated
with the return keyword.
For example, the above function sumprod could also be defined by:
sumprod(a,b):={
local s,p;
s:=a+b;
p:=a*b;
return [s,p];
} |
To avoid using braces, the proc
and end keywords may be used like this:
sumprod:=proc(a,b)
local s,p;
s:=a+b;
p:=a*b;
return [s,p];
end |
Yet another way to define a function is by using the
function…endfunction
construction. With this approach, the function name and parameters follow the
function keyword. This is otherwise like the previous
approach. The sumprod function could be defined by:
function sumprod(a,b)
local s,p;
s:=a+b;
p:=a*b;
return [s,p];
endfunction |