Final answer:
The 'sortnumbers' function sorts three integer variables in decreasing order by using reference parameters to modify the original values without returning any value.
Step-by-step explanation:
The function sortnumbers can be defined to sort three integers in decreasing order using reference parameters. This function does not return any value because it directly modifies the values of the variables that are passed to it by reference. Here's a simplified version of how you might write this function in a generic programming language:
void sortnumbers(int &a, int &b, int &c) {
if (a < b) swap(a, b);
if (a < c) swap(a, c);
if (b < c) swap(b, c);
}
In this function, swap is a hypothetical helper function that swaps the values of the two variables it is given. The sortnumbers function checks and swaps the numbers to ensure that a holds the largest value, b the second largest, and c the smallest.