A Common-Sense Guide to Data Structures and Algorithms in JavaScript, Volume 1

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.

The goal of many functions 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. 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 number of levels ...