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is an attribute that can be assigned to a symbol f to indicate that f[arg1,arg2,…] should be considered a numeric quantity whenever all the argi are numeric quantities.
Details Examplesopen allclose all Basic Examples (1)Log has the NumericFunction attribute:
When Log has an argument that is a number, constant, or numeric, the result is numeric:
In most cases when NumericQ[expr] gives True, then N[expr] yields an explicit number:
Scope (1)Define f to be a numeric function:
If you have not assigned f to yield numerical values, then NumericQ gives misleading results:
Assign f to evaluate for arguments that are approximate numbers:
Applications (2)Consider the following two function definitions, where one has the NumericFunction attribute:
Define a function that evaluates faster for numeric input than for arbitrary input:
The evaluation of is faster when it is able to recognize that its argument can be treated as numeric:
Define a function that can represent an exact value:
Assign N[f[a]] to give the derivative with respect to a of the solution of an ODE at :
Assign f for approximate numbers:
f[1] does not evaluate but represents a number:
It will work with any precision (within reasonable limits!):
Properties & Relations (2) HistoryIntroduced in 1996 (3.0)
Wolfram Research (1996), NumericFunction, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumericFunction.html. TextWolfram Research (1996), NumericFunction, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumericFunction.html.
CMSWolfram Language. 1996. "NumericFunction." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumericFunction.html.
APAWolfram Language. (1996). NumericFunction. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumericFunction.html
BibTeX@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_numericfunction, author="Wolfram Research", title="{NumericFunction}", year="1996", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumericFunction.html}", note=[Accessed: 12-July-2025 ]}
BibLaTeX@online{reference.wolfram_2025_numericfunction, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={NumericFunction}, year={1996}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumericFunction.html}, note=[Accessed: 12-July-2025 ]}
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