Recursion

Chapter 11

Prepared by: Areej Althubaity

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 1
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Recursive Algorithm

• A recursive algorithm will have one subtask that is a small version of

the entire algorithm's task

• A recursive algorithm contains an invocation of itself

• Must be defined correctly else algorithm could call itself forever or

not at all

• In Java, we can use a recursive algorithm to write a recursive method

in Java

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 2
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Recursive Methods
• Recursive method is when a method calls itself.
• This process is known as recursion.

• In the provided example:

• Normal method call is where we have called the
recurse() method from inside the main method

• Recursive method call/invocation is where we are

calling the same recurse method once again inside
itself!
• So how can we stop the recursive call?
• As with loop, we need to provide some conditions
inside the method. Otherwise, the method will be
called infinitely.

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 3
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Recursive Methods
• A recursive method is one whose definition contains an
invocation of itself

• Recursive call must eventually terminate

• A base case does not contain a recursive call

• stops the recursion
• A recursive method must have at least one base case!

• Each successive call to itself must be a "smaller version of itself”

• An argument that describes a smaller problem
• A base case that should be eventually reached

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 4
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Recursive Void Methods

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 5
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Simple Example - Countdown
• Given an integer value num output all the numbers from
num down to 1
• Can do this easier and faster with a loop; the recursive version is
an example only

• First handle the simplest case; the base case or stopping

condition
• The simplest input possible is when the input num is less than 1.
In this case, all we need to do is print a blank line

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 6
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Simple Example - Countdown
• This method handles the base case, but not the more
interesting case when num is 1 or more!

• To solve this recursively, we have to break the problem up

into a smaller version of the same problem

• This means rephrasing the problem in terms of a method

call back to countdown

• Let’s say that num equals 3. We have invoked

countDown(3) and we want to output “321”.

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 7
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
 Recursive
Countdown-
Sequence of Calls
of
countDown(3)

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 8
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Example - Recursive Display New Lines

• We could manage
calling/invoking newline ()
three times by just calling
threeLine method

• But, what if we want to

display 2 or 100 lines! Calling
threeLine method wouldn’t
be that helpful!

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 9
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Example - Recursive Display New Lines
• A more general way is to define nLines
method that takes an integer, n, as a
parameter and displays n newlines.

• The structure is similar to countdown.

As long as n is greater than 0, it displays
a newline and then invokes itself to
display (n − 1) additional newlines.

• The total number of newlines is

1 + (n − 1), which is just what we
wanted: n

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 10
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Example - Digits to Words

• Let's consider a method which receives an integer parameter, then it

prints the digits of the number as words

• Example, if the argument is the number 223, the method should

display:
two two three

• The heading of our method can be

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 11
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Example- Digits to Words

• We do NOT need to do recursion method if the number is only a

single digit
• we can use a long switch statement to decide which word to use for the digit

• Consider this useful private method

• Why this method is private?!

• Thus, when digit is 0, getWordFromDigit returns "zero", when digit is

1, the method returns "one", etc

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 12
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Example- Digits to Words

• If number has multiple digits, decompose algorithm into two

subtasks
1. Display all digits but the last one as words
2. Display last digit as a word

• First subtask is smaller version of original problem

• Same as original task, one less digit

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 13
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Example- Digits to Words
• How do we remove the last digit of a number so we can perform step
1 yet retain that digit for step 2?
• ِExample:
• Suppose we choose a number that has more than one digit, e.g. 987
• So, to break this number into 98 and 7, we can use integer division by 10
(987/ 10 is 98), and (987% 10 is 7)
• Thus, our algorithm leads us to the following Java code:

• Which leads to the following:

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 14
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Example- Digits to Words
• Which leads to the following:

• But still we need to make a special case for numbers that are only
one digit long! Thus the correct method’s implementation is:

base case

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 15
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Example- Digits to
Words (Full Program)

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 16
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
How Recursion Works

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 17
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
How Recursion Works

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 18
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
How Recursion Works

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 19
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
How Recursion Works

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 20
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
How Recursion Works

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 21
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Keys to Successful Recursion

• Must have a branching statement that leads to different cases

• One or more of the branches should have a recursive call of the

method
• Recursive call must us "smaller" version of the original argument

• One or more branches must include no recursive call

• This is the base or stopping case

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 22
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Infinite Recursion
• Suppose we leave out the stopping case

• Nothing stops the method from repeatedly invoking itself

• Program will eventually crash when computer exhausts its resources (stack
overflow)
• stack refers to a data structure that is used to keep track of recursive calls
• The system maintains a record within the computer’s memory of each
recursive call
• Method begins: add data onto the stack
• Method ends: remove data from the stack

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 23
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Recursive Versus Iterative Methods

All recursive algorithms/methods

can be rewritten without recursion.

• Any method including a recursive call can be rewritten

• To do the same task
• Done without recursion

• Non recursive algorithm uses iteration

• Method which implements is iterative method

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 24
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Recursive Versus Iterative Methods

• Iterative methods use loops instead of recursion

• They are generally run faster and use less memory
• Less overhead in keeping track of method calls

• Recursive methods
• Uses more storage space than iterative version
• Due to overhead during runtime
• Also runs slower

• However, in some programming tasks, recursion is a better choice, a

more elegant solution

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 25
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
So When Should You Use Recursion?

• Solutions/algorithms for some problems are inherently recursive

• iterative implementation could be more complicated

• When efficiency is less important

• it might make the code easier to understand

• Bottom line is about:

• Algorithm design
• Tradeoff between readability and efficiency

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 26
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Recursive Methods that Return a Value

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 27
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Recursive Methods that Return a Value

• Follow same design guidelines as stated previously (Slide# 28)

• Second guideline also states

• One or more branches includes recursive invocation that leads to the
returned value

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 28
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Example- Number of Zeros in an Integer

• Example,
getNumberOfZeros(2030)
returns 2, because 2030
contains two zero digits

• Note recursive method

NumberOfZeros
• Has two recursive calls
• Each returns value assigned to
result
• Variable result is what is
returned

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 29
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
 public static int numberOfZeros(int n)
{
Example- Number int zeroCount;
if (n==0)
of Zeros in an zeroCount = 1;
else if (n < 10) // and not 0
Integer zeroCount = 0; // 0 for no zeros
else if (n%10 == 0)
zeroCount = numberOfZeros(n/10) + 1;
else // n%10 != 0
zeroCount = numberOfZeros(n/10);
return zeroCount;
}

numberOfZeros(2008)

numberOfZeros(200) 5

numberOfZeros(20) 0

numberOfZeros(2) 0
JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 30
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
 Example- Number
of Zeros in an
Integer

numberOfZeros(2008)->2
+
numberOfZeros(200)->2 8->0
+
numberOfZeros(20)->1 0->1
+
numberOfZeros(2)->0 0->1
JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 31
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Programming Example

• Insisting that user input be

correct
• Program asks for a input in
specific range
• Recursive method makes sure
of this range
• Method recursively invokes
itself as many times as user
gives incorrect input
• Dangerous technique – can
result in stack overflow if
invalid entries entered
repeatedly

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 32
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Example-Factorial of a Number

• The factorial of an integer n, which is written n!, is defined as

follows:
0! = 1
n! = n · (n − 1)!

• This means factorial(0) is 1, and factorial(n) is n * factorial(n - 1).

• factorial(3) is 3 * factorial(2);
• factorial(2) is 2 * factorial(1);
• factorial(1) is 1 * factorial(0);
• and factorial(0) is 1.
• Putting it all together, we get 3 * 2 * 1 * 1, which is 6.

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 33
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Factorial (N!)

• N! = (N-1)! * N [for N > 1]

• 1! = 1
• 3!
= 2! * 3
= (1! * 2) * 3
=1*2*3

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 34
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Example-Factorial of a Number

• The first step is to decide what the parameters and return

type are.

• Since factorial is defined for integers, the method takes an

int as a parameter and returns an int

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 35
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Example-Factorial of a Number

• Next, we think about the base case.

• If the argument happens to be 0, we
return 1:

• Otherwise, we have to make a

recursive call to find the factorial of n −
1, and then multiply it by n:

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 36
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
factorial Method

public static int factorial(int n)

{
int fact;
if (n > 1) // recursive case (decomposition)
fact = factorial(n – 1) * n; // composition
else // base case
fact = 1;

return fact;
}

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 37
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
public static int factorial(int 3)
{
int fact;
if (n > 1)
fact = factorial(2) * 3;
else
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 38
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
public static int factorial(int 3)
{
int fact;
if (n > 1)
fact = factorial(2) * 3;
else
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

public static int factorial(int 2)

{
int fact;
if (n > 1)
fact = factorial(1) * 2;
else
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 39
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
public static int factorial(int 3)
{
int fact;
if (n > 1)
fact = factorial(2) * 3;
else
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

public static int factorial(int 2)

{
int fact;
if (n > 1)
fact = factorial(1) * 2;
else
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

public static int factorial(int 1)

{
int fact;
if (n > 1)
fact = factorial(n - 1) * n;
else
fact = 1;
return fact;
} th
JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8 Ed. By Walter Savitch 40
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
public static int factorial(int 3)
{
int fact;
if (n > 1)
fact = factorial(2) * 3;
else
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

public static int factorial(int 2)

{
int fact;
if (n > 1)
fact = factorial(1) * 2;
else
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

public static int factorial(int 1)

{
int fact;
if (n > 1)
fact = factorial(n - 1) * n;
else
fact = 1;
return 1;
} th
JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8 Ed. By Walter Savitch 41
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
public static int factorial(int 3)
{
int fact;
if (n > 1)
fact = factorial(2) * 3;
else
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

public static int factorial(int 2)

{
int fact;
if (n > 1)
fact = 1 * 2;
else
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

public static int factorial(int 1)

{
int fact;
if (n > 1)
fact = factorial(n - 1) * n;
else
fact = 1;
return 1;
} th
JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8 Ed. By Walter Savitch 42
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
public static int factorial(int 3)
{
int fact;
if (n > 1)
fact = factorial(2) * 3;
else
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

public static int factorial(int 2)

{
int fact;
if (n > 1)
fact = 1 * 2;
else
fact = 1;
return 2;
}

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 43
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
public static int factorial(int 3)
{
int fact;
if (n > 1)
fact = 2 * 3;
else
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

public static int factorial(int 2)

{
int fact;
if (n > 1)
fact = 1 * 2;
else
fact = 1;
return 2;
}

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 44
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
public static int factorial(int 3)
{
int fact;
if (n > 1)
fact = 2 * 3;
else
fact = 1;
return 6;
}

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 45
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
 public static int factorial(int n)
{
Execution Trace int fact;
if (n > 1) // recursive case (decomposition)

(decomposition) fact = factorial(n – 1) * n; (composition)

else // base case
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

factorial(4)

factorial(3) 4

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 46
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
 public static int factorial(int n)
{
Example-Factorial int fact;
if (n > 1) // recursive case (decomposition)

of a Number fact = factorial(n – 1) * n; (composition)

else // base case
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

factorial(4)

factorial(3) 4

factorial(2) 3

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 47
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
 public static int factorial(int n)
{
Example-Factorial int fact;
if (n > 1) // recursive case (decomposition)

of a Number fact = factorial(n – 1) * n; (composition)

else // base case
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

factorial(4)

factorial(3) 4

factorial(2) 3

factorial(1) 2

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 48
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
 public static int factorial(int n)
{
Example-Factorial int fact;
if (n > 1) // recursive case (decomposition)

of a Number fact = factorial(n – 1) * n; (composition)

else // base case
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

factorial(4)
*
factorial(3) 4
*
factorial(2) 3

*
factorial(1)->1 2

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 49
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
 public static int factorial(int n)
{
Example-Factorial int fact;
if (n > 1) // recursive case (decomposition)

of a Number fact = factorial(n – 1) * n; (composition)

else // base case
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

factorial(4)
*
factorial(3) 4
*
factorial(2)->2 3

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 50
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
 public static int factorial(int n)
{
Example-Factorial int fact;
if (n > 1) // recursive case (decomposition)

of a Number fact = factorial(n – 1) * n; (composition)

else // base case
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

factorial(4)
*
factorial(3)->6 4

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 51
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
 public static int factorial(int n)
{
Example-Factorial int fact;
if (n > 1) // recursive case (decomposition)

of a Number fact = factorial(n – 1) * n; (composition)

else // base case
fact = 1;
return fact;
}

factorial(4)->24

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 52
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
More Examples on Recursion
FYI

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 53
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Example- Fibonacci Numbers

• The Nth Fibonacci number is the sum of the

previous two Fibonacci numbers

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, …

• Base case:
• fibonacci(1) = 0
• fibonacci(2) = 1

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 54
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Example- Fibonacci Numbers

public static int fibonacci(int n)

{
int fib;
if (n > 2)
fib = fibonacci(n-1) + fibonacci(n-2);
else if (n == 2)
fib = 1;
else
fib = 0;
return fib;
}
JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 55
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Example- Fibonacci Numbers

fibonacci(4)

fibonacci(3) fibonacci(2)

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 56
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
 Example- Fibonacci Numbers

fibonacci(4)

fibonacci(3) fibonacci(2)

fibonacci(2) fibonacci(1)

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 57
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
 Example- Fibonacci Numbers

fibonacci(4)
+

fibonacci(3) fibonacci(2)
+

fibonacci(2)->1 fibonacci(1)->0

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 58
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Example- Fibonacci Numbers

fibonacci(4)
+

fibonacci(3)->1 fibonacci(2)->1

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 59
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Example- Fibonacci Numbers

fibonacci(4)->2

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 60
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Summary

• Method with self invocation

• Invocation considered a recursive call

• Recursive calls
• Legal in Java
• Can make some method definitions clearer

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 61
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved
Reading

JAVA: An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming, 8th Ed. By Walter Savitch 62
ISBN 0134462033 © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All Rights Reserved