Valence
Valence, a.k.a. arity or adicity, is the number of arguments a function accepts. The minimum valence of a k function is 1 and the maximum is 8. Applying a function to fewer arguments creates a projection. Applying it to more arguments usually causes a rank error, though some primitives may support more arguments than their nominal valence.
The following Greek and Latin-based English words are commonly used to describe a function of a particular valence[1]:
| Greek | Latin | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | monadic | unary |
| 2 | dyadic | binary |
| 3 | triadic | ternary |
| 4 | tetradic | quaternary |