Function

1. the kind of action or activity proper to a person, thing, or institution; the purpose for which something is designed or exists; role. 2. any ceremonious public or social gathering or occasion. 3. a factor related to or dependent upon other factors: Price is a function of supply and demand. 4. Mathematics. Also called correspondence, map, mapping, transformation. a relation between two sets in which one element of the second set is assigned to each element of the first set, as the expression y = x 2 ; operator. Also called multiple-value function. a relation between two sets in which two or more elements of the second set are assigned to each element of the first set, as y 2 = x 2 , which assigns to every x the two values y = + x and y = − x. a set of ordered pairs in which none of the first elements of the pairs appears twice. 5. Geometry. a formula expressing a relation between the angles of a triangle and its sides, as sine or cosine. hyperbolic function. 6. Grammar. the grammatical role a linguistic form has or the position it occupies in a particular construction. the grammatical roles or the positions of a linguistic form or form class collectively. 7. Sociology. the contribution made by a sociocultural phenomenon to an ongoing social system.