-The implementation of the cosine function is in @file{inifcns_trans.cpp}. The
-@code{eval_func()} function looks something like this (actually, it doesn't
-look like this at all, but it should give you an idea what is going on):
+The implementation of the cosine function is in @file{inifcns_trans.cpp}. Here
+is its @code{REGISTER_FUNCTION} line:
+
+@example
+REGISTER_FUNCTION(cos, eval_func(cos_eval).
+ evalf_func(cos_evalf).
+ derivative_func(cos_deriv).
+ latex_name("\\cos"));
+@end example
+
+There are four options defined for the cosine function. One of them
+(@code{latex_name}) gives the function a proper name for LaTeX output; the
+other three indicate the C++ functions in which the "brains" of the cosine
+function are defined.
+
+@cindex @code{hold()}
+@cindex evaluation
+The @code{eval_func()} option specifies the C++ function that implements
+the @code{eval()} method, GiNaC's anonymous evaluator. This function takes
+the same number of arguments as the associated symbolic function (one in this
+case) and returns the (possibly transformed or in some way simplified)
+symbolically evaluated function (@xref{Automatic evaluation}, for a description
+of the automatic evaluation process). If no (further) evaluation is to take
+place, the @code{eval_func()} function must return the original function
+with @code{.hold()}, to avoid a potential infinite recursion. If your
+symbolic functions produce a segmentation fault or stack overflow when
+using them in expressions, you are probably missing a @code{.hold()}
+somewhere.
+
+The @code{eval_func()} function for the cosine looks something like this
+(actually, it doesn't look like this at all, but it should give you an idea
+what is going on):