Computer science foundations · 10 minutes
Recursion and stopping
Explain recursion with a small factorial example. Identify the base case, the recursive step and why the process terminates.
Study · reference notes
Describe a recursive call
A recursive function calls itself, directly or indirectly, to solve a related subproblem. Each call has its own execution context.
Identify a base case
A base case returns an answer without another recursive call. For nonnegative integer factorial, factorial(0) = 1 is a base case.
Show progress to stopping
For n greater than zero, factorial(n) = n times factorial(n - 1). Decreasing a nonnegative integer toward zero ensures the recursion reaches its base case.
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