How to create a function that can accommodate multiple definitions of the same variable?

I have the function file;

function [rateA, rateB, rateC] = FissionReactionRate(A, B, C)

%UNTITLED Summary of this function goes here
%   Detailed explanation goes here

for A = [3000, 10^20, 10^14] 

rateA = prod(A);
end

for B = [100, 10^20, 10^14]

rateB = prod(B);
end

for C = [1.5, 10^20, 10^13]

rateC = prod(C);
end

end

and the script file

fprintf('The first fission reaction rate is %d #/cm^3*sec', FissionReactionRate(A))

fprintf('\n')

fprintf('The second fission reaction rate is %d #/cm^3*sec', FissionReactionRate(B))

fprintf('\n')

fprintf('The third fission reaction rate is %d #/cm^3*sec', FissionReactionRate(C))

However, I am just receiving the answer

The first fission reaction rate is 100000000000000 #/cm^3*sec

The second fission reaction rate is 100000000000000 #/cm^3*sec

The third fission reaction rate is 100000000000000 #/cm^3*sec

How can I get three different answers?

[Walter Roberson]

You define your function as expecting 3 input variables, but then you only call it with one input variable ?

And you ignore the input variables anyhow and use fixed numeric values?

And your loop ignores the current contents of the loop variable and overwrites all of the variable each time through ??

Then your function defines three outputs, but you only ever use one of the outputs ??

[Krishna Bindumadhavan]

Are you trying to multiply all the elements of a vector?

If so you can just use the built in product function prod(A) on the input vector.

I'm not sure how you were able to run the script with one argument and without defining the input - it would be great if you could give us a more detailed explanation of the use case.

Thanks!

Answer 1

[Shree Harsha Kodi]

In MATLAB, you cannot have multiple definitions of the same variable within the same scope. Each variable name can only be assigned a single value at any given time. However, you can create a function that accepts multiple input arguments and processes them accordingly.

[Walter Roberson]

A = [3000, 10^20, 10^14]

A = 1×3

1.0e+20 * 0.0000 1.0000 0.0000

A has been assigned multiple values at the same time.