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Recursive Functions: Fibonacci Numbers

The document discusses recursive functions in C programming. It provides examples of recursive functions to calculate Fibonacci numbers and exponential powers. The Fibonacci function uses recursion to calculate each number as the sum of the previous two. The power function uses recursion and halves the exponent each call to efficiently calculate x^n. It also discusses a more efficient recursive Fibonacci function that stores the previous two values to avoid recomputing them.

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KESHAV SINGHAL
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60 views9 pages

Recursive Functions: Fibonacci Numbers

The document discusses recursive functions in C programming. It provides examples of recursive functions to calculate Fibonacci numbers and exponential powers. The Fibonacci function uses recursion to calculate each number as the sum of the previous two. The power function uses recursion and halves the exponent each call to efficiently calculate x^n. It also discusses a more efficient recursive Fibonacci function that stores the previous two values to avoid recomputing them.

Uploaded by

KESHAV SINGHAL
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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C Programming

Functions
Recursion

Recursive Functions

Fibonacci Numbers
1

1
Growth is exponential: possible to
find r > 1 st. fn ≥ rn−2 .
√
2 Let r = 1+2 5
= 1.62, so that
r2 = r + 1
3 We need to prove that fn ≥ rn−2 .

R. K. Ghosh (IIT-Kanpur) C Programming February 24, 2011 6/7


C Programming
Functions
Recursion

Recursive Functions

Fibonacci Numbers
Basis: P (1) is true, f1 = 1, since r1−2 = r−1 ≤ 1.
Note, also that as r2−2 = 1 = f2 , P (2) holds.
Induction hypothesis: for a fixed n > 2, P (1), P (2) . . . P (n) are all
true.
Induction step: consider fn+1 = fn−1 + fn−2 .
Using hypothesis fn ≤ rn−2 + rn−3
So, fn ≤ rn−3 (r + 1) = rn−3 .r2 = rn−1 .
Hence P (n + 1) is true.

R. K. Ghosh (IIT-Kanpur) C Programming February 24, 2011 6/7


C Programming
Functions
Recursion

Examples of Recursive Functions


Fibonacci Function
#i n c l u d e < s t d i o . h>
int fib ( int n) {

i f ( n == 1 ) r e t u r n 1 ;
i f ( n == 2 ) r e t u r n 1 ;

r e t u r n f i b ( n−1) + f i b ( n −2);
}

i n t main ( ) {
int n;
p r i n t f (” Enter n : ” ) ;
s c a n f ( ”%d” , &n ) ;
p r i n t f ( ”%d t h f i b o n a c c i number = %d \ ” , n , fib (n ));
}

R. K. Ghosh (IIT-Kanpur) C Programming February 24, 2011 7/7


C Programming
Functions
Recursion

Examples of Recursive Functions


Fibonacci Function
fib(5)

fib(4) fib(3)

fib(3) fib(2) fib(2) fib(1)

fib(2) fib(1)

R. K. Ghosh (IIT-Kanpur) C Programming February 24, 2011 7/7


C Programming
Functions
Recursion

Examples of Recursive Functions


Efficient Computation of Fibonacci
To make it more efficient the strategy would be
Keep track of both current and previous fibonacci numbers
How many are to be computed?
Initially f (1) and f (2) are known and n − 2 other numbers to be
computed.
(
1, if n <= 2
fibo(cur, prev, n) =
fibo(cur+prev, cur, n-1)

So if n = 6 then 4 values are to be computed.

R. K. Ghosh (IIT-Kanpur) C Programming February 24, 2011 7/7


C Programming
Functions
Recursion

Examples of Recursive Functions


Efficient Computation of Fibonacci
#i n c l u d e < s t d i o . h>
i n t f i b o ( i n t cur , i n t prev , i n t n ) {
i f ( n−2 <= 0 )
return cur ;
r e t u r n f i b o ( c u r + p r e v , c u r , n −1);
}

i n t main ( ) {
int n;

p r i n t f ( ” E n t e r a +v e n : ” ) ;
s c a n f ( ”%d” , &n ) ;
p r i n t f ( ” f i b (%d ) = %d\n” , n , f i b o ( 1 , 1 , n ) ) ;
}

R. K. Ghosh (IIT-Kanpur) C Programming February 24, 2011 7/7


C Programming
Functions
Recursion

Examples of Recursive Functions


Fibonacci Function
from main
fibo(1, 1, 5) 5
5 return
return fibo(2, 1, 4)
5
return fibo(3, 2, 3)
5
return fibo(5, 3, 2)

R. K. Ghosh (IIT-Kanpur) C Programming February 24, 2011 7/7


C Programming
Functions
Recursion

Examples of Recursive Functions


Power Function
Recursive specification of xn is as follow:

1, if n = 0

pow(x, n) = x ∗ square(pow(x, n/2)), if odd(n)

square(pow(x, n/2)), otherwise

R. K. Ghosh (IIT-Kanpur) C Programming February 24, 2011 7/7


C Programming
Functions
Recursion

Examples of Recursive Functions


Power Function
#i n c l u d e < s t d i o . h>
i n t power ( i n t x , i n t n ) {
int t ;

i f ( n == 0 )
return 1;

t = power ( x , n / 2 ) ;
i f ( n%2 != 0 )
return x ∗ t ∗ t ;
return t ∗ t ;
}

i n t main ( ) {
int n , x ;
p r i n t f ( ” E n t e r x and n : ” ) ;
s c a n f ( ”%d %d” , &x , &n ) ;
p r i n t f ( ” power(%d , %d ) = %d\n” , x , n , power ( x , n ) ) ;
}
R. K. Ghosh (IIT-Kanpur) C Programming February 24, 2011 7/7

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