recursiveness
Defining through itself
Recursiveness is the quality of containing or referring back to itself.
In computing and mathematics, a recursive function calls itself to solve smaller instances of a problem.
More broadly, recursiveness describes any self-referential structure: The recursiveness of the story—a tale within a tale within a tale—left readers disoriented.
The concept appears in language, art, and logic wherever a pattern repeats by embedding itself.
Making a dwelling
- embeddingPlacing within surrounding mass
- matryoshkaRussian nesting doll
- containerThing for storing items
- hierarchyRanked authority structure
Pointing to oneself
- terminationAct of ending something
- functionPurpose or duty
- subroutinePackaged callable code segment
- depth-firstExhausts branches before siblings
backtracking · unwinding · trampoline · induction · factorial
Identical at every magnification
- snowflakeFeathery ice crystal
- iterationRepeated procedural pass
- patternRecurring arrangement or template
- tessellationGapless plane coverage
Alluding to itself
- metalanguageVocabulary describing linguistic structure
- paradoxSeemingly absurd truth
- gnuManed African antelope
- meta-narrativeSelf-referential storytelling framework
nesting
Making a dwelling
- embeddingPlacing within surrounding mass
- matryoshkaRussian nesting doll
- containerThing for storing items
self-reference
Pointing to oneself
- terminationAct of ending something
- functionPurpose or duty
- subroutinePackaged callable code segment
depth-first · backtracking · unwinding · trampoline · induction · factorial
self-similarity
Identical at every magnification
- snowflakeFeathery ice crystal
- iterationRepeated procedural pass
- patternRecurring arrangement or template
tessellation · dimension · branching · coastline · fern · zooming
self-referential
Alluding to itself
- metalanguageVocabulary describing linguistic structure
- paradoxSeemingly absurd truth
- gnuManed African antelope
recursivenesslinearity
Straight-path property
linear progression · flatness · straightforwardness · simplicity · directness
recur, recurring, recurrent, recurrence, recurrently, recurred, recursive, recursion, recursions