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Understanding Recursion in C

1. Recursion is a technique where a function calls itself during its execution. 2. A recursive function must have a base case that stops the recursion and returns a value. It also needs a general case that calls itself on a reduced problem and returns the computed value. 3. Factorial of a number can be computed recursively by defining the base case fact(1) = 1 and the recursive definition fact(n) = n * fact(n-1) for n > 1.

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Understanding Recursion in C

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Recursion

in g a nd Plac ement VNIT

o f Tr ain
D e s hm u k h D epartment
By Yogita Nagpur

1
Recursion
void recurse()
{
1. A function that ... .. ...
calls itself is recurse();
known as a ... .. ...
recursive }
function.
And, this int main()
technique is {
known as ... .. ...
recursion. recurse();
... .. ... 2
By Yogita Deshmukh Department
of Training and}Placement VNIT
Functions
.

By Yogita Deshmukh Department 3

of Training and Placement VNIT

By Yogita Deshmukh Department 4

of Training and Placement VNIT

By Yogita Deshmukh Department of Training and
Placement VNIT Nagpur

5
Function Aspects
Function declaration A function must be declared globally in
a c program to tell the compiler about the function name,
function parameters, and return type.

Function call Function can be called from anywhere in the

program. The parameter list must not differ in function calling
and function declaration. We must pass the same number of
functions as it is declared in the function declaration.

Function definition It contains the actual statements which

are to be executed. It is the most important aspect to which
the control comes when the function is called. Here, we must
By Yogita Deshmukh Department of Training and
Placement VNIT Nagpur
notice that only one value can be returned from the function.
6
C function aspects Syntax

1
Function declaration return_type function_name
(argument list);

2
Function call function_name (argument_list)

3
Function definition return_type function_name
(argument list)
{
function
By Yogita Deshmukh Department of Training and body;
Placement VNIT Nagpur
}

7
By Yogita Deshmukh Department of Training and
Placement VNIT Nagpur

8
How are function calls
implemented?
■ The following applies in general, with minor variations
that are implementation dependent
◻ The system maintains a stack in memory
■ Stack is a last-in first-out structure

■ Two operations on stack, push and pop

◻ Whenever there is a function call, the activation

record gets pushed into the stack
■ Activation record consists of the return address
in the calling program, the return value from the
function, and the local variables inside the
function
By Yogita Deshmukh Department 9
of Training and Placement VNIT
void main()
{ int gcd (int x, int y)
…….. {
x = gcd (a, b); ……..
…….. ……..
} return (result);
}

Local
Activation Variables
record Return Value
STACK

Return Addr

Before call After call After return

By Yogita Deshmukh Department 10
of Training and Placement VNIT
Recursion
■ A process by which a function calls itself
repeatedly
◻ Either directly.
■ X calls X
◻ Or cyclically in a chain.
■ X calls Y, and Y calls X

■ Used for repetitive computations in which each

action is stated in terms of a previous result
fact(n) = n * fact (n-1)
By Yogita Deshmukh Department 11

of Training and Placement VNIT

Computing Factorial
factorial(0) = 1;
factorial(n) = n*factorial(n-1);

n! = n * (n-1)!

ComputeFactorial 12

By Yogita Deshmukh Department

of Training and Placement VNIT
Program for factorial of a
number
#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
int i,fact=1,number;
printf("Enter a number: ");
scanf("%d",&number);
for(i=1;i<=number;i++)
{
fact=fact*i;
}
By Yogita Deshmukh Department 13
printf("Factorial of %d is: %d",number,fact);
of Training and Placement VNIT
Contd.
■ For a problem to be written in recursive form,
two conditions are to be satisfied:
◻ It should be possible to express the problem
in recursive form
■ Solution of the problem in terms of solution of the
same problem on smaller sized data
◻ The problem statement must include a
stopping condition
fact(n) = 1, if n =
= n * fact(n-1), 0 if Stopping condition
Recursive definition
n>
0 Department
By Yogita Deshmukh 14

of Training and Placement VNIT

■ Examples:

◻ Factorial:
fact(0) = 1
fact(n) = n * fact(n-1), if n > 0
◻ Fibonacci series
(1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,….) fib (0) = 1
fib (1) = 1
fib (n) = fib (n-1) + fib (n-2), if n > 1

By Yogita Deshmukh Department 15

of Training and Placement VNIT

Factorial
long intfact (int n)
{
if (n ==
1) return
(1);
else
return (n *
fact(n-1));
}
By Yogita Deshmukh Department 16

of Training and Placement VNIT

Factorial Execution

long int fact (int n)

{
if (n = = 1) return
(1); else return (n *
fact(n-1));
} By Yogita Deshmukh Department 17

of Training and Placement VNIT

Factorial Execution
fact(
4)