A Common-Sense Guide to Data Structures and Algorithms, Second Edition, 2nd Edition

Recursive Category: Calculations

In the previous section, we discussed the first category of recursive functions—those whose job it is to repeatedly execute a task. For the remainder of this chapter, I’ll elaborate on a second general category: performing a calculation based on a subproblem.

There are many functions whose goal it is to perform a calculation. A function that returns the sum of two numbers, or a function that finds the greatest value within an array, are examples of these. These functions receive some sort of input, and return the result of calculations involving that input.

In Chapter 10, ​Recursively Recurse with Recursion​, we found that one area in which recursion shines is where we need to act on a problem that has an arbitrary ...