<P> After the function has been defined, it can be invoked as follows: </P> <P> In this example, the function has been invoked with the argument 10.00 . When this happens, 10.00 will be assigned to price, and the function begins calculating its result . The steps for producing the result are specified below, enclosed in (). 0.05 * price indicates that the first thing to do is multiply 0.05 by the value of price, which gives 0.50 . return means the function will produce the result of 0.05 * price . Therefore, the final result (ignoring possible round - off errors one encounters with representing decimal fractions in IEEE - 754 format) is 0.50 . </P> <P> The terms parameter and argument may have different meanings in different programming languages . Sometimes they are used interchangeably, and the context is used to distinguish the meaning . The term parameter (sometimes called formal parameter) is often used to refer to the variable as found in the function definition, while argument (sometimes called actual parameter) refers to the actual input supplied at function call . For example, if one defines a function as def f (x):..., then x is the parameter, and if it is called by a = ...; f (a) then a is the argument . A parameter is an (unbound) variable, while the argument can be a value or variable or more complex expression involving values and variables . In case of call by value, what is passed to the function is the value of the argument--for example, f (2) and a = 2; f (a) are equivalent calls--while in call by reference, with a variable as argument, what is passed is a reference to that variable - even though the syntax for the function call could stay the same . The specification for pass - by - reference or pass - by - value would be made in the function declaration and / or definition . </P> <P> Parameters appear in procedure definitions; arguments appear in procedure calls . In the function definition f (x) = x * x the variable x is a parameter; in the function call f (2) the value 2 is the argument of the function . Loosely, a parameter is a type, and an argument is an instance . </P>

Difference between formal parameters and actual parameters in c++
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