calling one program to another

I have a program that has a function and takes an input 'n' and runs it through the hailstone sequence and counts the number of outputs it goes through until if ends at 1. I need to write another function that takes as input n and whose output is the number less than n that has the longest Collatz sequence and the length of that maximal sequence.

the thing is, the second program MUST be a function and it MUST call the first function without just copy-pasting the first function, i have no idea how to do this...

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

It's not clear what first and second program, and first and second function are, but I'll take a guess.

In a file called hailstone.m

function numberOfOutputs = hailstone(n)
% Write the code here.

In a file called collatz_sequence.m

function [theNumber, lengthMaxSequence] = collatz_sequence(n)
% Code here to calculate theNumber, and lengthMaxSequence.

In the main, first program called first_program.m:

% Call the hailstone function
n = 42; % whatever...
numberOfOutputs = hailstone(n)
% Call the other function
[theNumber, lengthMaxSequence] = collatz_sequence(n)

In the other, second program called second_program.m:

function second_program()
% Call the "first" function (whatever that is - it's not clear).
% Let's assume that the "first" function is the hailstone function.
n = 42; % whatever...
numberOfOutputs = hailstone(n)

[Lindsay]

but how would I write that code to calculate theNumber and lengthMaxSequence ? i'm also not sure what you mean by in the 'main program' because I should only be dealing with two programs, one with the first function and one with the second that calls upon the first

[Image Analyst]

You answered as I realized the ambiguity in your question and was trying to be more clear. See my edit, however you are still not being clear. I have no idea how to write the code inside the function - I guess that's some algorithm you learned in class so you should be able to do it.