I have a problem with the nested function.

I need to write a function which gives the area of a triangle and in it a subfunction that calculates the distance between each point of the triangle (I need it for the area). My program doesn't work can someone let me know what I am doing wrong pls?

Here is my program:

x1=input('Enter the x coordinate of the first point ');
y1=input('Enter the y coordinate of the first point ');
x2=input('Enter the x coordinate of the second point ');
y2=input('Enter the y coordinate of the second point ');
x3=input('Enter the x coordinate of the third point ');
y3=input('Enter the y coordinate of the third point ');
s=(a+b+c)/3;
fprintf('The area of the triangle is %.2f\n',area) 
end

and here is my function with the nested subfunction:

 function [area]=calcarea(a,b,c,s)
    function [a,b,c]=dist(x1,x2,x3,y1,y2,y3)   
     a=sqrt((x1-x2)^2 + (y1-y2)^2);
     b=sqrt((x1-x3)^2 + (y1-y3)^2);
     c=sqrt((x2-x3)^2 + (y2-y3)^2);
    end
area=sqrt(s*(s-a)*(s-b)*(s-c));
end

Answer 1

[madhan ravi]

Multiple functions way:

x1=input('Enter the x coordinate of the first point ');
y1=input('Enter the y coordinate of the first point ');
x2=input('Enter the x coordinate of the second point ');
y2=input('Enter the y coordinate of the second point ');
x3=input('Enter the x coordinate of the third point ');
y3=input('Enter the y coordinate of the third point ');
[a,b,c]=dist(x1,x2,x3,y1,y2,y3)                         %first function call
s=(a+b+c)/3;
area=calcarea(a,b,c,s)                                  %second function call
fprintf('The area of the triangle is %.2f\n',area) 

function [a,b,c]=dist(x1,x2,x3,y1,y2,y3)   
a=sqrt((x1-x2)^2 + (y1-y2)^2);
b=sqrt((x1-x3)^2 + (y1-y3)^2);
c=sqrt((x2-x3)^2 + (y2-y3)^2);
end
function area=calcarea(a,b,c,s)
area=sqrt(s*(s-a)*(s-b)*(s-c));
end

nested function way:

x1=input('Enter the x coordinate of the first point ');
y1=input('Enter the y coordinate of the first point ');
x2=input('Enter the x coordinate of the second point ');
y2=input('Enter the y coordinate of the second point ');
x3=input('Enter the x coordinate of the third point ');
y3=input('Enter the y coordinate of the third point ');
area=calcarea(x1,x2,x3,y1,y2,y3)                        %parent function call
fprintf('The area of the triangle is %.2f\n',area) 

 function [area]=calcarea(x1,x2,x3,y1,y2,y3)     %parent function
 [a,b,c]=dist(x1,x2,x3,y1,y2,y3) 
 s=(a+b+c)/3;
 area=sqrt(s*(s-a)*(s-b)*(s-c));
 function [a,b,c]=dist(x1,x2,x3,y1,y2,y3)       %nested function
 a=sqrt((x1-x2)^2 + (y1-y2)^2);
 b=sqrt((x1-x3)^2 + (y1-y3)^2);
 c=sqrt((x2-x3)^2 + (y2-y3)^2);
 end
 end

[Hari Ijjada]

if i use multiple function way or nested functions way .By using which function name i should save the function file ?