<p>Can someone provide a simple explanation of <strong>methods</strong> vs. <strong>functions</strong> in OOP context?</p>

'method'
is the object-oriented word for
'function'
.  That's pretty much all there is to it (ie., no real difference).
Unfortunately, I think a lot of the answers here are perpetuating or advancing the idea that there's some complex, meaningful difference.
Really - there isn't all that much to it, just different words for the same thing.
[late addition]
In fact, as
Brian Neal
pointed out in a comment to
this question
, the C++ standard never uses the term 'method' when refering to member functions. Some people may take that as an indication that C++ isn't really an object-oriented language; however, I prefer to take it as an indication that a pretty smart group of people didn't think there was a particularly strong reason to use a different term.