From the top of this page of Wikipedia-
In mathematics, an argument of a function is a specific input in the function, also known as an independent variable.
From the same page-
A mathematical function has one or more arguments in the form of independent variables designated in the function's definition.
Again from the same page-
The independent variables are mentioned in the list of arguments that the function takes.
So, I gets confused about the difference of these terms. It seems to me that they should be different but Wikipedia is not agreeing. Can you help me with this?
function
in math andfunction
in programming do not mean the same thing. For examplerand()
is a standardC
function, but doesn't qualify as a function mathematically. $\endgroup$ – dxiv Sep 16 '16 at 6:01I've never heard of the term "independent variable" to be replaced by the "argument" before this
That's highly dependent on the context, and usually easy to understand from the context. Consider this: "for any $z \in \mathbb{C} \text{Arg } z + \text{Arg } \bar z = 0$". It's generally obvious that $z$ is an independent variable (because of the unconstrained any $z$), and also an argument to the function $\text{Arg}$. $\endgroup$ – dxiv Sep 16 '16 at 6:07