Recursion Concepts

Recursion : Three Main Things

• For solving any problem recursively:
1. The solution of the problem must be defined recursively:
e.g. fact of n = n * fact of n-1
sum of arr of n numbers = arr[n-1]+ sum of array of n-1 numbers
Tower of Hanoi problem:
2. In the recursive call, the size of the problem must reduce
e/g/ all D&C problems (binary search, merge sort, quick sort)
3. There must be a non-recursive definition of the solution for
some boundary which is called stopping criteria
e.g. fact (n) = n*fact (n-1) if n>=2
= 1 otherwise

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 Recursive Solutions Design
• Q1: Print series n ..1
• Find the recursive defn as per above three rules
• printseries(n) = do nothing if n <=0
print one value and recursively call for
reduced size if n>0
= cout <<n;
printseries(n-1);
void printseries1(int n)
{ if (n<=0) return;
else{ printf("%d ", n);
printseries1(n-1);} }
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 Recursive Solutions Design
• Q1: Print series 1..n
• Find the recursive defn as per above three rules
• printseries(n) = do nothing if n <=0
print one value and recursively call for
reduced size if n>0
= cout <<n;??
printseries(n-1);
void printseries2(int n)
{ if (n<=0) return;
else{ printseries1(n-1);
printf("%d ", n); } }
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 How recursion works internally
For ex, factorial calculated recursively:
int fact(int n)
{ int x; if (n>1) {x=fact(n-1); x= n*x; return x;}
else return 1;
}
• If we call fact(4), fact(4)’s execution will be stopped at
statement x=fact(3), and a new call to fact (3) will start;
• Similarly, now fact(3) will be stopped and fact(2) called
• fact(2) starts and stopped, and fact(1) is called
• Now n is 1, condition false, and return 1 executed (no
further recursion)
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 Recursive Problems
• Find recursively sum of series 1..n
• Find recursive sum of series 1+1/2+1/4..1/2^n
• Find recursively max out of an array of n numbers
*Using recursion over n-1 array and one value:
arrmax(n) = maximum of [nth] value and arrmax(n-1)
OR maximum of [1] and arrmax(2..n)
//parameters need change for recursive implementation
*Using D&C, like binary search
arrmax(1..n) =
max (a[mid], arrmax(1..mid-1), arrmax(mid+1..n))

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 Recursion: Parameters and local/global var
• Parameters are must in recursion to stop infinite exec
• All local variables (& memory for parameters) will be
created for each recursive call, but same copy of global var
will be shared among all calls.
• Let us see the code of arrmax using binary search logic:

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 Max of Array
int findmax(int arr[], int start, int end )
{ int mid,v1,v2;
if (start <=end)
{ mid = (start+end)/2;
v1=findmax(arr, start, mid-1);
v2=findmax(arr,mid+1,end);
if ((arr[mid] >= v1) && (arr[mid]>=v2))
return arr[mid];
else if ((v1>=arr[mid]) && (v1>=v2)) return v1;
else return v2;
}
return INT_MIN; } 10
 Max of Array: using Global var
int mid,v1,v2;
int findmax(int arr[], int start, int end )
{ if (start <=end)
{ mid = (start+end)/2;
v1=findmax(arr, start, mid-1);
v2=findmax(arr,mid+1,end);
if ((arr[mid] >= v1) && (arr[mid]>=v2))
return arr[mid];
else if ((v1>=arr[mid]) && (v1>=v2)) return v1;
else return v2;
} return INT_MIN; }
• Let us See in DevCpp 11
 Output After execution
main()
{int a[] = {14,6,15,18,10,12};
int res;
res=findmax(a,0,5);//try with size as 3 or 2
printf("%d\n", res);
}
What will be output?
• Printed Output: 12
• If call for v2 is made before v1, what will be o/p?
• Printed Output: 14

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 Max of Array: using Global var
int mid,v1,v2;
int findmax(int arr[], int start, int end )
{ …
v1=findmax(arr, start, mid-1);
v2=findmax(arr,mid+1,end); …
}
• If v1,v2 are global, last call to findmax overwrites
previously calculated v1, v2 of all pending recursive
calls and thus wrong results
• If max out of a binary tree was to be found, taking max as
global var can work easily.

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 Recursive Problems: Binary tree
• Inorder traversal, preorder, postorder
• Find max of a binary tree
• Find sum of all nodes of a binary tree
• Copy a binary tree
• Find mirror image of a binary tree
• Count leaf nodes, non-leaf nodes of a binary tree
• Find whether a binary tree is left-skewed or not?
• Right skewed or not?
• Find whether a binary tree is skewed or not in one scan

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 Practice Problems
• Super Digit (hackerrank):
https://www.hackerrank.com/challenges/super-digit/problem
• Fit Squares in a Triangle(codechef):
https://www.codechef.com/problems/TRISQ
• Kingdom of Fire & Ice (codechef):
https://www.codechef.com/problems/FICE?tab=statement

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