Recursion

Recursion
The recursive function is

– a kind of function that calls itself, or
– a function that is part of a cycle in the sequence of function calls.
f1 f1 f2 … fn
Let’s we want to find the factorial of a number: f(n) = n! We know that

n! = 1 * 2 * 3 * … * (n – 1) * n
For example, f(5) = 1 * 2 * 3 * 4 * 5. We also know that f(4) = 1 * 2 * 3 * 4. So
f(5) = (1 * 2 * 3 * 4) * 5 = f(4) * 5
The problem of calculating f(5) is reduced to the problem of calculating f(4): in

order to find f(5) we first must find f(4) and then multiply the result by 5. This process
can be continues like
f(5) = f(4) * 5 = f(3) * 4 * 5 = f(2) * 3 * 4 * 5 = …
How long shall we continue this process? We know that 0! = 1, but there is no
sense for calculating factorial for negative numbers. The equality 0! = 1 or f(0) = 1 is
called simple case or terminating case or base case. When we need to find f(0), we do
not continue the reduction like f(0) = f(-1) * 0 because it has no sense, but simply
substitute the value of f(0) by 1. So
f(2) = f(1) * 2 = f(0) * 1 * 2 = 1 * 1 * 2 = 2
A recursive function consists of two types of cases:

 a base case(s)
 a recursive case
The base case is a small problem

 the solution to this problem should not be recursive, so that the function is
guaranteed to terminate
 there can be more than one base case
The recursive case defines the problem in terms of a smaller problem of the same
type
 the recursive case includes a recursive function call
 there can be more than one recursive case
From the definition of factorial we can conclude that

n! = (1 * 2 * 3 * … * (n – 1)) * n = (n – 1)! * n
If we denote f(n) = n! then f(n) = f(n – 1) * n. This is called recursive case. We
continue the recursive process till n = 0, when 0! = 1. So f(0) = 1. This is called the base
case.
f(3) = f(2) * 3
f(1) * 2
1*1*2*3 = 6
f(0) * 1
1
 f (n)  f (n 1) * n recursive case


 f (0)  1 base case
E-OLYMP 1658. Factorial For the given number n find the factorial n!
► The problem can be solved with for loop, but we’ll consider the recursive
solution. To solve the problem, simply call a function fact(n). The value n ≤ 20, use
long long type.
long long fact(int n)
{
if (n == 0) return 1;
return fact(n-1) * n;
}
E-OLYMP 1603. The sum of digits Find the sum of digits of an integer.
► Input number n can be negative. In this case we must take the absolute value of
it (sum of digits for -n and n is the same).
Let sum(n) be the function that returns the sum of digits of n.
 If n < 10, the sum of digits equals to the number itself: sum(n) = n;
 Otherwise we add the last digit of n to sum(n / 10);
We have the following recurrence relation:
sum (n / 10 )  n%10, n  10
sum(n) = 
n, n  10
sum(123) = sum(12) +3 = sum(1) +2 +3 = 1 +2 +3 = 6
E-OLYMP 2. Digits Find the number of digits in a nonnegative integer n.

► Let digits(n) be the function that returns the number of digits of n. Note that
sum of digits for n = 0 equals to 1.
 If n < 10, the number of digits equals to 1: digits(n) = 1;
 Otherwise we add 1 to digits(n / 10);
We have the following recurrence relation:
digits (n / 10 )  1, n  10
digits(n) = 
1, n  10
Example: digits(246) = digits(24) + 1 = digits(2) + 1 + 1 = 1 + 1 + 1 = 3.
E-OLYMP 3258. Fibonacci Sequence The Fibonacci sequence is defined as

follows:
a0 = 0
a1 = 1
ak = ak-1 + ak-2
For a given value of n find the n-th element of Fibonacci sequence.
► In the problem you must find the n-th Fibonacci number. For n ≤ 40 the
recursive implementation will pass time limit. The Fibonacci sequence has the
following form:
i 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ...
fi 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 ...
The biggest Fibonacci number that fits into int type is

f46 = 1836311903
For n ≤ 40 its enough to use type int.
Let fib(n) be the function that returns the n-th Fibonacci number. We have the
following recurrence relation:
 fib(n  1)  fib(n  2), n  1


fib(n) = 1, n  1
0, n  0

int fib(int n)
{
return fib(n-1) + fib(n - 2);
}

Recursion

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Recursion

The recursive function is

Let’s we want to find the factorial of a number: f(n) = n! We know that

The problem of calculating f(5) is reduced to the problem of calculating f(4): in

A recursive function consists of two types of cases:

The base case is a small problem

From the definition of factorial we can conclude that

 f (n)  f (n 1) * n recursive case

E-OLYMP 2. Digits Find the number of digits in a nonnegative integer n.

E-OLYMP 3258. Fibonacci Sequence The Fibonacci sequence is defined as

The biggest Fibonacci number that fits into int type is

 fib(n  1)  fib(n  2), n  1

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