Recursion in Python is a technique where a function calls itself with a modified version of the original input until a base case is reached. A base case is a stopping point where the function can return an output without making any more recursive calls. The recursive case is the portion of the function where it calls itself with a modified input.
Here's an example of a function that calculates the factorial of a number using recursion:
main.py131 chars8 lines
In this example, the base case is when n == 0
, and the function returns 1. Otherwise, the function makes a recursive call to factorial(n-1)
, calculating the factorial of the next lowest integer until it reaches the base case.
Here's an example of how to call the factorial
function:
main.py34 chars3 lines
In this example, the factorial
function is called with an input of 5, which results in the recursive calls factorial(4)
, factorial(3)
, factorial(2)
, factorial(1)
, and factorial(0)
. Since factorial(0)
is the base case, it returns 1, which is then used to calculate the final result of 120.
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