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Can anybody suggest programming examples that illustrate recursive functions? There are the usual old horses such as Fibonacci series and Towers of Hanoi, but anything besides them would be fun.
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Many recursive numerical formulas have a closed form, i.e. an equivalent expression that doesn't involve recursion (or summation or the like). Some- times you can find the closed form by working out the first few values of the function and then guessing the pattern.
Simple examples of a recursive function include the factorial, where an integer is multiplied by itself while being incrementally lowered. Many other self-referencing functions in a loop could be called recursive functions, for example, where n = n + 1 given an operating range.
This illustration is in English, rather than an actual programming language, but is useful for explaining the process in a non-technical way:
A child couldn't sleep, so her mother told a story about a little frog, who couldn't sleep, so the frog's mother told a story about a little bear, who couldn't sleep, so bear's mother told a story about a little weasel ...who fell asleep. ...and the little bear fell asleep; ...and the little frog fell asleep; ...and the child fell asleep.
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