Question:

Consider the following code snippet:

public class MathOperations {
    
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int a = 5;
        int b = 3;
        
        int product = multiply(a, b);
        int sum = add(a, b);
        
        System.out.println("Product: " + product);
        System.out.println("Sum: " + sum);
    }
    
    public static int multiply(int x, int y) {
        return x * y;
    }
    
    public static int add(int x, int y) {
        return x + y;
    }
}

Explain the process of method declaration and invocation demonstrated in the given code snippet.

Answer:

The given code snippet demonstrates the process of method declaration and invocation in Java.

1. Method Declaration:

   • Method declaration is the process of defining a method with its name, return type, and parameters.
   • In the provided code, the methods multiply and add are declared with the public static modifiers, indicating they can be accessed from any class and without creating an instance of the class.
   • Both methods have a return type of int which signifies that they will return an integer value.
   • The multiply method takes two parameters x and y of type int.
   • The add method also takes two parameters x and y of type int.

2. Method Invocation:

   • Method invocation is the process of calling (or executing) a method.
   • In the main method, two method invocations are demonstrated.
   • The multiply method is invoked using the line int product = multiply(a, b);. Here, the values of a and b are passed as arguments to the multiply method, and the resulting product is assigned to the variable product.
   • The add method is invoked using the line int sum = add(a, b);. Similar to the previous invocation, the values of a and b are passed as arguments to the add method, and the resulting sum is assigned to the variable sum.

3. Output:

   • After the invocations, the program prints the values of product and sum using System.out.println statements.

The output of the program will be:

Product: 15
Sum: 8

In this case, the multiply method multiplies the values of a and b (5 * 3 = 15), which is then assigned to product. The add method adds the values of a and b (5 + 3 = 8), which is assigned to sum. Finally, the values of product and sum are printed to the console.