C H A P T E R 12

Recursion

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley

 Topics
Introduction to Recursion
Problem Solving with Recursion
Examples of Recursive Algorithms
 Introduction to Recursion
Recursive function: a function that
calls itself
Recursive function must have a way to
control the number of times it repeats
Usually involves an if-else statement
which defines when the function should return
a value and when it should call itself
Depth of recursion: the number of
times a function calls itself
Introduction to Recursion
(cont’d.)
 Problem Solving with
Recursion
Recursion is a powerful tool for solving
repetitive problems
Recursion is never required to solve a
problem
Any problem that can be solved recursively
can be solved with a loop
Recursive algorithms usually less efficient
than iterative ones
Due to overhead of each function call
 Problem Solving with
Recursion (cont’d.)
Some repetitive problems are more
easily solved with recursion
General outline of recursive function:
If the problem can be solved now without
recursion, solve and return
Known as the base case
Otherwise, reduce problem to smaller
problem of the same structure and call the
function again to solve the smaller problem
Known as the recursive case
Using Recursion to Calculate
the Factorial of a Number
In mathematics, the n! notation
represents the factorial of a number n
For n = 0, n! = 1
For n > 0, n! = 1 x 2 x 3 x … x n
The above definition lends itself to
recursive programming
n = 0 is the base case
n > 0 is the recursive case
factorial(n) = n x factorial(n-1)
Using Recursion (cont’d.)
 Using Recursion (cont’d.)
Since each call to the recursive
function reduces the problem:
Eventually, it will get to the base case which
does not require recursion, and the recursion
will stop
Usually the problem is reduced by
making one or more parameters
smaller at each function call
Direct and Indirect Recursion
Direct recursion: when a function
directly calls itself
All the examples shown so far were of direct
recursion
Indirect recursion: when function A
calls function B, which in turn calls
function A
 Examples of Recursive
Algorithms
Summing a range of list elements with
recursion
Function receives a list containing range of
elements to be summed, index of starting item
in the range, and index of ending item in the
range
Base case:
if start index > end index return 0
Recursive case:
 return current_number + sum(list, start+1, end)
Examples of Recursive
Algorithms (cont’d.)
 The Fibonacci Series
Fibonacci series: has two base cases
 if n = 0 then Fib(n) = 0
 if n = 1 then Fib(n) = 1
 if n > 1 then Fib(n) = Fib(n-1) + Fib(n-2)

Corresponding function code:

Finding the Greatest Common
Divisor
 Calculation of the greatest common divisor (GCD) of
two positive integers
 If x can be evenly divided by y, then
 gcd(x,y) = y
 Otherwise, gcd(x,y) = gcd(y, remainder of x/y)
 Corresponding function code:
 The Towers of Hanoi
Mathematical game commonly used to
illustrate the power of recursion
Uses three pegs and a set of discs in
decreasing sizes
Goal of the game: move the discs from
leftmost peg to rightmost peg
Only one disc can be moved at a time
A disc cannot be placed on top of a smaller disc
All discs must be on a peg except while being
moved
The Towers of Hanoi (cont’d.)
The Towers of Hanoi (cont’d)
Problem statement: move n discs from
peg 1 to peg 3 using peg 2 as a
temporary peg
Recursive solution:
If n == 1: Move disc from peg 1 to peg 3
Otherwise:
Move n-1 discs from peg 1 to peg 2, using peg 3
Move remaining disc from peg 1 to peg 3
Move n-1 discs from peg 2 to peg 3, using peg 1
The Towers of Hanoi (cont’d.)
 Recursion versus Looping
Reasons not to use recursion:
Less efficient: entails function calling
overhead that is not necessary with a loop
Usually a solution using a loop is more
evident than a recursive solution
Some problems are more easily solved
with recursion than with a loop
Example: Fibonacci, where the mathematical
definition lends itself to recursion
 Summary
This chapter covered:
Definition of recursion
The importance of the base case
The recursive case as reducing the problem
size
Direct and indirect recursion
Examples of recursive algorithms
Recursion versus looping