Function - Definition and Overview

In general, a function is part of an answer to a question about why some object or process occurred in a system that evolved or was designed with some goal. Thus function refers forward from the object or process, along some chain of causes to the goal or evolutionary success. The common feature of a function is that it produces some kind of result.

Function may refer to:

• the role of a component in an assembly, or of an element in a systemic aggregate (such as a person within a group)
• (in mathematics)
  • the fundamental concept of a mathematical function
  • a functional
• (in computer science)
  • a function subprogram that is a constituent element of a program written in a functional programming language, often analogous with a mathematical function;
  • a subroutine or procedure that normally computes a value
  • (in object-oriented programming) a function object
• (in sociology) the focus of functionalism: social function
• (in music) diatonic functionality