Argument of a function
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mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
, an argument of a function is a value provided to obtain the function's result. It is also called an independent variable. For example, the binary function f(x,y) = x^2 + y^2 has two arguments, x and y, in an ordered pair (x, y). The hypergeometric function is an example of a four-argument function. The number of arguments that a function takes is called the ''
arity In logic, mathematics, and computer science, arity () is the number of arguments or operands taken by a function, operation or relation. In mathematics, arity may also be called rank, but this word can have many other meanings. In logic and ...
'' of the function. A function that takes a single argument as input, such as f(x) = x^2, is called a unary function. A function of two or more variables is considered to have a domain consisting of ordered pairs or tuples of argument values. The argument of a circular function is an
angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle can refer to a number of concepts relating to the intersection of two straight Line (geometry), lines at a Point (geometry), point. Formally, an angle is a figure lying in a Euclidean plane, plane formed by two R ...
. The argument of a hyperbolic function is a hyperbolic angle. A mathematical function has one or more arguments in the form of independent variables designated in the definition, which can also contain parameters. The independent variables are mentioned in the list of arguments that the function takes, whereas the parameters are not. For example, in the logarithmic function f(x) = \log_b(x), the base b is considered a parameter. Sometimes, subscripts can be used to denote arguments. For example, we can use subscripts to denote the arguments with respect to which partial derivatives are taken. The use of the term "argument" in this sense developed from astronomy, which historically used tables to determine the spatial positions of planets from their positions in the sky ( ephemerides). These tables were organized according to measured angles called arguments, literally "that which elucidates something else."


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References


External links

* * Elementary mathematics {{math-stub