Definition of "function" []

• The action for which a person or thing is particularly fitted or employed. (noun)
• Assigned duty or activity. (noun)
• A specific occupation or role: in my function as chief editor. (noun)
• An official ceremony or a formal social occasion. (noun)
• Something closely related to another thing and dependent on it for its existence, value, or significance: Growth is a function of nutrition. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Thus, in Church's proposal, the words ˜recursive function of positive integers™ can be replaced by the words ˜function of positive integers computable by Turing machine™."
• "The last function A, called the _altitude function_, will be explained when high angle fire is considered."
• "My thesis now is this: that, when we think of the law that thought is a function of the brain, we are not required to think of productive function only; _we are entitled also to consider permissive or transmissive function_."