Question

This bit of code appeared in a recent lecture:
http://dpaste.com/1249825/

Why does it only return true/false when you run it? Why doesn't the return statement (return abs(x - y) <= epsilon) return anything on its own?

Answer 1

because this code "abs(x - y) <= epsilon" combined with a "return" evaluates to a boolean value. so it's comparing abs(x - y) to epsilon to tell us if abs(x - y) is less/greater epsilon.