recursion
Method calling itself
Recursion is the process of defining or solving something in terms of itself.
In computing and mathematics, a recursive function calls itself to break complex problems into simpler versions of the same problem: The function uses recursion to traverse the tree.
The concept appears in art (a picture containing a smaller picture of itself), language (a sentence embedded within a sentence), and humor: To understand recursion, you must first understand recursion.
Self-consuming serpent emblem
- Droste effectSelf-referential infinite regress
- EscherDutch impossible-geometry artist
- feedback loopSelf-modifying cyclical process
- infinite regressUnending causal chain
matryoshka · Russian doll · self-replicating · bootstrap · turtles all the way down · circular definition
Recursion's stopping condition
- stack overflowExceeded call depth
- divide and conquerOvercome by fragmenting opposition
- backtrackingReversing to find alternatives
- factorialDescending multiplication of integers
Identical at every magnification
- subordinate clauseClause requiring another clause
- relative clauseDependent modifier of nouns
Formal admission process
- base caseRecursion's stopping condition
- well-foundedHaving sound basis
- computabilityAlgorithmic solvability of problems
- ordinalNumber denoting position
ouroboros
Self-consuming serpent emblem
- Droste effectSelf-referential infinite regress
- EscherDutch impossible-geometry artist
- feedback loopSelf-modifying cyclical process
infinite regress · matryoshka · Russian doll · self-replicating · bootstrap · turtles all the way down · circular definition
base case
Recursion's stopping condition
- stack overflowExceeded call depth
- divide and conquerOvercome by fragmenting opposition
- backtrackingReversing to find alternatives
factorial · Fibonacci · quicksort · mergesort · fixed point
self-similarity
Identical at every magnification
Chomsky
- subordinate clauseClause requiring another clause
- relative clauseDependent modifier of nouns
induction
Formal admission process
- base caseRecursion's stopping condition
- well-foundedHaving sound basis
- computabilityAlgorithmic solvability of problems
- Chomskyuniversal grammar, Chomsky hierarchy, minimalist program, competence, performance
- Chomsky linguisticsuniversal grammar, merge, move, minimalist program, Noam Chomsky
- lambda calculuslambda, abstraction, application, bound variable, substitution
- syntax theoriesuniversal grammar, minimalist program, CCG, context-free grammar, merge
- syntax treesbranches, branching, noun phrase, verb phrase, prepositional phrase
- computingcomputer, computers, software, hardware, code