A return value is when a method sends a value back to the code that called it.
public static type name(parameters) { // declare
...
return expression;
}
variableName = methodName(parameters); // call
Example:
public static double fToC(double tempF) { return (tempF - 32) * 5.0 / 9.0; } ... double bodyTemp = fToC(98.6); // bodyTemp stores 37.0 double freezing = fToC(32); // freezing stores 0.0