sorry for my layman terminology, but to my understanding as a coder a function has a name, parameters, arguments and operations. if sin is the name, and its parameters are side opposite and hypotenuse, and its arguments are context dependent, what is the operation itself? am i making sense?
def sin (hypotenuse, opposite):
??!?!?!!?
I didn’t get what you were asking until I started to answer. The parameter is the angle. The algorithm is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CORDIC . In (most?) compiled languages, this algorithm is performed on hardware. In (some?) interpreted languages, it’s done in hardware.
whats the difference between an algorhythm and a function
An algorithm is the meat of a function. It’s the “how.”
And if you’re using someone else’s function, you won’t touch the “how” because you’ll be interacting with the “what.” (You use a function for what it does.)
You will be creating your own algorithm by writing code, however. Because an algorithm is just a sequence of steps that, taken together, constitute an attempt at achieving an objective.
Haus is saying all the little steps that go into approximating sine occur directly on the hardware.