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Recursion Explained in 5 Minutes

The document explains the concept of recursion using an analogy of gift boxes containing smaller boxes. It highlights the two key components of recursion: base cases, which are the stopping points, and recursive cases, which require further unwrapping. The Fibonacci sequence is used as an example to illustrate how recursion works, emphasizing the importance of clear base cases and breaking down complex problems into smaller ones.

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10 views9 pages

Recursion Explained in 5 Minutes

The document explains the concept of recursion using an analogy of gift boxes containing smaller boxes. It highlights the two key components of recursion: base cases, which are the stopping points, and recursive cases, which require further unwrapping. The Fibonacci sequence is used as an example to illustrate how recursion works, emphasizing the importance of clear base cases and breaking down complex problems into smaller ones.

Uploaded by

Fake HAI
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Recursion

Coding Interview Concepts : Deep Dive

explained
in 5
minutes
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Introduction

Imagine your team at work gives you a gift box

for your birthday!

You are told that the gift is inside the box.



When you open it, instead of finding the gift, you

find two smaller boxes inside.

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Boxes inside boxes?

When you open the two smaller boxes, one has the
gift, but the other has another smaller box inside.

Technically, your team didn’t lie. The gift was just in


smaller boxes, which were inside larger boxes.

In recursion, we encounter two types of boxes

Boxes with values inside (no more smaller boxes

inside
Boxes containing more boxes (that need to be
opened)

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Making sense of the

analogy

These two type of boxes are analogous to the

two key components of recursion:

Base Case: Boxes that contain values directly.

These are our stopping points.

Recursive Case: Boxes that contain more

boxes. These require further "unwrapping".

Base Case (Smallest box

with values inside)


Recursive Case (Big box

with smaller boxes)

Recursive Case (Big box

with smaller boxes)

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Fibonacci Sequence
F(3) F(2) + F(1)
1
F(1) + F(0)

1 0
A perfect example for understanding recursion
0th Fibonacci number =
1st Fibonacci number =
Each subsequent number = sum of previous two

F(n) = F(n-1) + F(n-2)

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Base Cases
F(1) + F(0)

1 0
Only the smallest boxes have values inside them.

F(1) = 1 and F(0) = 0.

These are our base cases. Without them, we

wouldn’t be able to do any calculations as there


would be no stopping point.

If we don’t include the base case, our

function would loop forever.

This takes care of “boxes with values”

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Recursive Case
This is the part where the function calls itself.

This is treated as its own function - it’s calling


the original function with a smaller input.

In other words, every subproblem is treated


as its own problem.
Recursive
fib(3)
Base

fib(2) fib(1) = 1

fib(1) = 1 fib(0) = 0

The recursive case persists until we hit the base


case.
This takes care of “boxes inside

boxes” example.

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Tackling Recursive
Problems

Identify clear base cases

Ensure each recursive call moves toward a base


case

Break complex problems into similar smaller


problems

Trust that the recursion will handle the details

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