Java 6 Illuminated: An Active Learning Approach, 2nd Edition

984 CHAPTER 13 Recursion

CHAPTER SUMMARY

13.9 Chapter Summary

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The idea of recursion is to convert or reduce a bigger problem to a

smaller, similar problem. The relationship between the bigger

problem and the smaller problem is called the general case.

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By reducing the size of a problem to a smaller problem recursively,

we eventually arrive at a small problem that is easy to solve. That

small problem is called the base case.

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Solving a problem using recursion typically involves coding a

recursive method.

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A recursive method

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can be a static method or an instance method,

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can take 0, 1, or more parameters,

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and can be a void or a value-returning method.

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