Solvequill Blog · coding · 4 min read · 2 views
Recursion: base case first, cleverness later
Understand recursive functions by naming the stopping point before expanding calls.
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Recursion becomes much less mysterious when you ask one question first: when does it stop?
The main idea
Write the base case, then describe how each call makes the input smaller or simpler.
A short example
Factorial stops at or ; every other call moves one step closer to that base case.
1function factorial(n) {2 if (n <= 1) return 1;3 return n * factorial(n - 1);4}Check while you solve
- Find the base case.
- Find the smaller input.
- Trace one small example, such as `factorial(3)`.
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