Algorithm for Calculating Binomial Coefficient

Question

I need a way of calculating combinations without running out of memory. Here's what i have so far.

public static long combination(long n, long k) // nCk
{
    return (divideFactorials(factorial(n), ((factorial(k) * factorial((n - k))))));
}

public static long factorial(long n)
{
    long result;
    if (n <= 1) return 1;
    result = factorial(n - 1) * n;
    return result;
}

public static long divideFactorials(long numerator, long denominator)
{
    return factorial(Math.Abs((numerator - denominator)));
}

I have tagged it as C#, but the solution should ideally be language independent.

Answer 1

Here is a solution which is very similar to Bob Byran, but checks two more preconditions to speed up the code.

    /// <summary>
    /// Calculates the binomial coefficient (nCk) (N items, choose k)
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="n">the number items</param>
    /// <param name="k">the number to choose</param>
    /// <returns>the binomial coefficient</returns>
    public static long BinomCoefficient(long n, long k)
    {
        if (k > n) { return 0; }
        if (n == k) { return 1; } // only one way to chose when n == k
        if (k > n - k) { k = n - k; } // Everything is symmetric around n-k, so it is quicker to iterate over a smaller k than a larger one.
        long c = 1;
        for (long i = 1; i <= k; i++)
        {
            c *= n--;
            c /= i;
        }
        return c;
    }

Answer 2

One of the best methods for calculating the binomial coefficient I have seen suggested is by Mark Dominus. It is much less likely to overflow with larger values for N and K than some other methods.

public static long GetBinCoeff(long N, long K)
{
   // This function gets the total number of unique combinations based upon N and K.
   // N is the total number of items.
   // K is the size of the group.
   // Total number of unique combinations = N! / ( K! (N - K)! ).
   // This function is less efficient, but is more likely to not overflow when N and K are large.
   // Taken from:  http://blog.plover.com/math/choose.html
   //
   long r = 1;
   long d;
   if (K > N) return 0;
   for (d = 1; d <= K; d++)
   {
      r *= N--;
      r /= d;
   }
   return r;
}