Subject:
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Re: Would-be hacker queries. (fwd)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Wed, 12 May 1999 08:58:59 GMT
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Original-From:
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Ben Laurie <BEN@ALGROUP.CO.UKspamcake>
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Viewed:
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1145 times
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Jim Choate wrote:
> Recursion requires that in order to find some value (say n!) of a function we
> must already know f(n-1). The power of the technique comes from its ability to
> trace that chain from n > n-1 > n-2 > ... > f(1) or f(0) and then take this
> value and work back up the chain. Generaly recursion is useful when it
> becomes possible to describe the state of a system as a function of previous
> or lower-leveled states.
That is a rather limited version of recursion, which does not, in
general, require f(n-1) to evaluate f(n). What you have described is
actually (a subset of) partial recursion, which is provably incomplete
(i.e. cannot implement some algorithms).
All recursion requires is that f(...) ends up (optionally) using f(...)
in its evaluation.
Cheers,
Ben.
--
http://www.apache-ssl.org/ben.html
"My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those
who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the
first group; there was less competition there."
- Indira Gandhi
--
Did you check the web site first?: http://www.crynwr.com/lego-robotics
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | RE: Would-be hacker queries. (fwd)
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| ----- Forwarded message from JR Conlin ----- Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 07:46:20 -0700 From: JR Conlin <jrconlin@email.com> Subject: RE: Would-be hacker queries. You know, I have never really liked the factorial example of recursion. Honestly, how many (...) (26 years ago, 11-May-99, to lugnet.robotics)
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