Why use functions in MATLAB?
The primary reason for using a function is to compartmentalize a particular computation. The computation of mathematical functions (e.g., Bessel functions, trigonometric functions, exponential functions or statistical distributions) is one important reason to “compartmentalize”. When was the last time you worried about what the SIN button on your calculator actually did? You were probably more interested in the result of the function rather than how the function was executed. You can generalize this idea to the compuation of things of more direct use to your professional life. For example, in chemical engineering, you might want to “compartmentalize” activities like • Computing the vapor-pressure of a pure liquid at a given temperature • Finding the specific volume of a gas, given a temperature and pressure • Finding the heat-transfer coefficient for flow past a bundle of tubes While each of these tasks involves a good deal of detail, they are each “basic” to the chemical engineering p
