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08 Recursion

The document discusses recursion including recursive algorithms, advantages and disadvantages of recursion, recursive function calls, finding factorials using recursion, and provides examples of maximum list and palindrome recursion.

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Oguljan Nuryyeva
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11 views9 pages

08 Recursion

The document discusses recursion including recursive algorithms, advantages and disadvantages of recursion, recursive function calls, finding factorials using recursion, and provides examples of maximum list and palindrome recursion.

Uploaded by

Oguljan Nuryyeva
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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Recursion

Recursive Algorithms
A recursive function is one that calls itself (either directly or indirectly).
A recursive algorithm is made up of two parts:
◦ Base case: the simplest version of the problem where recursion ends.
◦ Recursive case: simplifies the problem and uses recursion to solve the rest.

2
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Recursion
Any problem that can be solved recursively can always be solved using iteration.
Recursion is generally slower and uses more memory, so why would we choose a
recursive solution?
There are some problems for which the recursive solution is more obvious and
understandable.

3
Recursive Function Calls
Each recursive call to a function creates its own scope/memory space.
When a recursive method returns a value, it returns it to its caller.

fun()

fun()

fun()

fun()

4
Finding the Factorial using Recursion
When finding the factorial of a number, the following holds true:
base case -> 1! = 1
0! = 1
recursive case -> n! = n * (n - 1)!
base case
if n == 1 or n == 0
fact = 1 ->solved, no further steps necessary
recursive case
if n != 1
fact = n * (n-1)! -> use recursion to solve for (n-1)!
5
Factorial with Recursion
def factorial(n):
if(n == 1 or n == 0):
return 1
else:
return n * factorial(n - 1)
val = 5
fact = factorial(5)
print('The factorial of',str(val),'is',fact)

See: 08_factorialRecursion.py
6
Maximum List Example
Write a recursive function that finds and returns the longest string in a list
of strings.
See: 08_listRecursion.py

7
Palindrome Example
Write a recursive function that takes a word or sentence as a parameter
and returns true if it is a palindrome, false if not. Case is not important.
See: 08_palindromeRecursion.py

8
Terms of Use
⮚ This presentation was adapted from lecture materials provided in MIT Introduction to
Computer Science and Programming in Python.
⮚ Licenced under terms of Creative Commons License.

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