to freshman students. I was thinking about giving them an example, such as factorial, or something simple, but how would you explain it?
How would you teach recursion?
- Thread starter chuckywang
- Start date
exponentiation example
edit: didnt see the how to part. my professor did a really good job. he explained what the recursive case and the base case were. then drew the stack of method calls and what parameters they were receiving until the base case was reached, then all the return values. on the blackboard, simple and effective.
edit: didnt see the how to part. my professor did a really good job. he explained what the recursive case and the base case were. then drew the stack of method calls and what parameters they were receiving until the base case was reached, then all the return values. on the blackboard, simple and effective.
Originally posted by: SagaLore
LOL, your recursion example was by far better than mine.
Yes, because what you did wasn't recursion. Now please troll somewhere else.
All jokes aside... to freshman what? High school students? College students?
I think factorial is something simple enough... but it doesn't explain the "why"... as you can easily compute factorials in a much more straightforward fashion.
There are quite a few math problems that easily lend themselves to be solved via recursion... but damn if I can recall any off the top of my head now...
Originally posted by: MathMan
All jokes aside... to freshman what? High school students? College students?
I think factorial is something simple enough... but it doesn't explain the "why"... as you can easily compute factorials in a much more straightforward fashion.
There are quite a few math problems that easily lend themselves to be solved via recursion... but damn if I can recall any off the top of my head now...
Yeah, freshman college students.
Sorting (I can try to find it in my notes when I get home, but I believe there is a really good quick or bubble sort example using a deck of cards)
Gunslinger08
Lifer
- Nov 18, 2001
- 13,234
- 2
- 81
I learned it through factorial. Just a simple program like this:
public int Factorial(int i)
{
int retVal;
if (i = 1)
retVal = 1;
else (i > 1)
retVal i * Factorial(i-1);
return retVal;
}
This introduces them to the base case (i = 1) where the recursion stops. You can then trace it back down the stack for them.
public int Factorial(int i)
{
int retVal;
if (i = 1)
retVal = 1;
else (i > 1)
retVal i * Factorial(i-1);
return retVal;
}
This introduces them to the base case (i = 1) where the recursion stops. You can then trace it back down the stack for them.
I believe directory structure is a good case for recursion. Say you want to know how many empty directories exist but you have to also ensure the subdirectories are empty before removing empty directories above them. Or is that too real world?
recursion is nice but i dont like the that it uses alot stack space unless its the only clean way to slove a proble.
For some people, you may have to teach what a factorial is first. I did not know what a factorial is, and yet I did some programming, but I can't remember how I was taught it.
Gunslinger08
Lifer
- Nov 18, 2001
- 13,234
- 2
- 81
cKGunslinger
Lifer
- Nov 29, 1999
- 16,408
- 57
- 91
Find a recording of this song and play it for them:
:music: "This is the song that never ends,
Yes it goes on and on, my friends." :music:
:music: "This is the song that never ends,
Yes it goes on and on, my friends." :music:
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes + WCL Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 23K
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
-
-
Facebook
Twitter