Types of Recursions

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
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What is Recursion?
The process in which a function calls itself directly or indirectly is called
recursion and the corresponding function is called a recursive function.
Using recursive algorithm, certain problems can be solved quite easily.
Examples of such problems are Towers of Hanoi
(TOH), Inorder/Preorder/Postorder Tree Traversals, DFS of Graph, etc.
Types of Recursions:
Recursion are mainly of two types depending on whether a function
calls itself from within itself or more than one function call one
another mutually. The first one is called direct recursion and
another one is called indirect recursion. Thus, the two types of
recursion are:
1. Direct Recursion: These can be further categorized into four
types:
 Tail Recursion: If a recursive function calling itself and that
recursive call is the last statement in the function then it’s
known as Tail Recursion. After that call the recursive function
performs nothing. The function has to process or perform any
operation at the time of calling and it does nothing at returning
time.
Example:

C++

// Code Showing Tail Recursion

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

// Recursion function
 void fun(int n)

if (n > 0) {

cout << n << " ";

// Last statement in
the function

fun(n - 1);

// Driver Code

int main()

int x = 3;

fun(x);

return 0;

// This code is contributed by

shubhamsingh10

Output
3 2 1
Let’s understand the example by tracing tree of recursive
function. That is how the calls are made and how the outputs are
produced.
Time Complexity For Tail Recursion : O(n)
Space Complexity For Tail Recursion : O(n)
Note: Time & Space Complexity is given for this specific example. It
may vary for another example.
Let’s now converting Tail Recursion into Loop and compare each other
in terms of Time & Space Complexity and decide which is more
efficient.
C++

// Converting Tail Recursion

into Loop
 #include <iostream>

using namespace std;

void fun(int y)

while (y > 0) {

cout << y << " ";

y--;

// Driver code

int main()

int x = 3;

fun(x);

return 0;

//This Code is contributed by

Shubhamsingh10

Output
3 2 1
Time Complexity: O(n)
Space Complexity: O(1)
Note: Time & Space Complexity is given for this specific example. It
may vary for another example.
So it was seen that in case of loop the Space Complexity is O(1) so it
was better to write code in loop instead of tail recursion in terms of
Space Complexity which is more efficient than tail recursion.
Why space complexity is less in case of loop ?
Before explaining this I am assuming that you are familiar with the
knowledge that’s how the data stored in main memory during
execution of a program. In brief,when the program executes,the main
memory divided into three parts. One part for code section, the second
one is heap memory and another one is stack memory. Remember
that the program can directly access only the stack memory, it
can’t directly access the heap memory so we need the help of
pointer to access the heap memory.
Let’s now understand why space complexity is less in case of loop ?
In case of loop when function “(void fun(int y))” executes there only
one activation record created in stack memory(activation record
created for only ‘y’ variable) so it takes only ‘one’ unit of memory
inside stack so it’s space complexity is O(1) but in case of recursive
function every time it calls itself for each call a separate activation
record created in stack.So if there’s ‘n’ no of call then it takes ‘n’ unit
of memory inside stack so it’s space complexity is O(n).
 Head Recursion: If a recursive function calling itself and that
recursive call is the first statement in the function then it’s
known as Head Recursion. There’s no statement, no
operation before the call. The function doesn’t have to process
or perform any operation at the time of calling and all
operations are done at returning time.
Example:
C++

// C++ program showing Head

Recursion

#include <bits/stdc++.h>

using namespace std;

// Recursive function

void fun(int n)

{
 if (n > 0) {

// First statement in
the function

fun(n - 1);

cout << " "<< n;

// Driver code

int main()

int x = 3;

fun(x);

return 0;

// this code is contributed by

shivanisinghss2110

Output
1 2 3
Let’s understand the example by tracing tree of recursive
function. That is how the calls are made and how the outputs are
produced.
Time Complexity For Head Recursion: O(n)
Space Complexity For Head Recursion: O(n)
Note: Time & Space Complexity is given for this specific example. It
may vary for another example.
Note: Head recursion can’t easily convert into loop as Tail Recursion
but it can. Let’s convert the above code into the loop.
C++

// Converting Head Recursion

into Loop

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

 // Recursive function

void fun(int n)

int i = 1;

while (i <= n) {

cout <<" "<< i;

i++;

// Driver code

int main()

int x = 3;

fun(x);

return 0;

// this code is contributed by

shivanisinghss2110

Output
1 2 3
 Tree Recursion: To understand Tree Recursion let’s first
understand Linear Recursion. If a recursive function calling
itself for one time then it’s known as Linear Recursion.
Otherwise if a recursive function calling itself for more than
one time then it’s known as Tree Recursion.
Example:
Pseudo Code for linear recursion
fun(n)
{
// some code
if(n>0)
{
fun(n-1); // Calling itself only once
}
// some code
}
Program for tree recursion
C++

// C++ program to show Tree

Recursion

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

// Recursive function

void fun(int n)

if (n > 0)

cout << " " << n;

// Calling once

fun(n - 1);

// Calling twice

fun(n - 1);

}
 }

// Driver code

int main()

fun(3);

return 0;

// This code is contributed by

shivanisinghss2110

Output
3 2 1 1 2 1 1
Let’s understand the example by tracing tree of recursive
function. That is how the calls are made and how the outputs are
produced.
Time Complexity For Tree Recursion: O(2^n)
Space Complexity For Tree Recursion: O(n)
Note: Time & Space Complexity is given for this specific example. It
may vary for another example.
 Nested Recursion: In this recursion, a recursive function will
pass the parameter as a recursive call. That
means “recursion inside recursion”. Let see the example
to understand this recursion.
Example:
C++

// C++ program to show Nested

Recursion
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int fun(int n)

if (n > 100)

return n - 10;

// A recursive function
passing parameter

// as a recursive call or
recursion inside

// the recursion

return fun(fun(n + 11));

// Driver code

int main()

int r;

r = fun(95);

cout << " " << r;

return 0;

// This code is contributed by

shivanisinghss2110
Output
91
Let’s understand the example by tracing tree of recursive
function. That is how the calls are made and how the outputs are
produced.
2. Indirect Recursion: In this recursion, there may be more than one
functions and they are calling one another in a circular manner.
From the above diagram fun(A) is calling for fun(B), fun(B) is calling for
fun(C) and fun(C) is calling for fun(A) and thus it makes a cycle.
Example:
C++

// C++ program to show Indirect

Recursion

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

void funB(int n);

void funA(int n)

if (n > 0) {

cout <<" "<< n;

// fun(A) is calling
fun(B)

funB(n - 1);

}
 }

void funB(int n)

if (n > 1) {

cout <<" "<< n;

// fun(B) is calling
fun(A)

funA(n / 2);

// Driver code

int main()

funA(20);

return 0;

// this code is contributed by

shivanisinghss2110

C
Java
C#
Python3
Javascript
Output
20 19 9 8 4 3 1
Let’s understand the example by tracing tree of recursive
function. That is how the calls are made and how the outputs are
produced.
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