R function that uses its output as its own input repeatedly

Question

Given R function auto (below), I was wondering if it might be possible that from the second run of the for loop output of ps be used a

Answer 1

Not sure I fully understand the problem. I added an if statement in the for loop to check if its the first iteration. If it is, it would define pr, by your original statement. if not, define it by pr(x) * the lk(x) function of the previous iteration which subsets by i-1. I'm sure I'm missing something here though..

I'm also confused where the x input is coming from.

auto <- function(n, dat){

  for(i in 1:length(n)){
    if(i == 1){pr = function(x) dbeta(x, 1, 1)} else{pr = function(x) dbeta(x, 1, 1) * function(x) dbinom(dat[i-1], n[i-1], x)}
    lk = function(x) dbinom(dat[i], n[i], x)
    ps = function(x) pr(x)*lk(x)
  }
  curve(ps)
}
# Example of use:
auto(n = c(100, 50), dat = c(55, 60) )