st: [Mata] passing a function to mata

[Antoine Terracol <Antoine.Terracol@univ-paris1.fr>]

Dear _all

I'm trying to write mata code to evaluate integrals |f(x)g(x) (where 
g(x)is the standard normal pdf) by Gauss-Hermite quadrature (I know this 
has been done before in Stata, but I'm trying to learn mata, so I 
thought I might give it a try).

I was able to code for the nodes and weight vectors, but I can't figure 
out how to tell mata which fuction f(x) I wish to evaluate.

I want to be able to specify the f(x) function, say x^2, when calling 
the mata program

Here is a sketch of the code :


___________________________________________
void gaussher(scalar node,   funct){

[compute nodes (x) and weight (w) vectors]

x=x:*sqrt(2)
s=w:/sqrt(pi()):*(funct)

[return stuff]
}
end
____________________________________________



If I type -gaussher(12 , x:^2)-

mata complains that "x not found"

but if I type -gaussher(12 , "x:^2")-

mata complains that "nonnumeric found where numeric required"


Could anyone point me to the correct way of passing such arguments to a 
mata program ?

Best,
Antoine

--
Ce message a �t� v�rifi� par MailScanner
pour des virus ou des polluriels et rien de
suspect n'a �t� trouv�.

*
*   For searches and help try:
*   http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
*   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
*   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/