Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Recursion
Re-cur′sion
(-sh?n)
, Noun.
[L.
recursio
. See Recur
.] The act of recurring; return.
[Obs.]
Boyle.
Webster 1828 Edition
Recursion
RECUR'SION
,Noun.
Definition 2024
recursion
recursion
English
A recursive shape
| Examples |
|---|
|
Hofstadter’s Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law. |
Noun
recursion (plural recursions)
- The act of recurring.
- (mathematics) The act of defining an object (usually a function) in terms of that object itself.
- 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 128:
- However, we have still not achieved our goal of devising a finite set of rules
which will generate an infinite set of sentence structures. In order to achieve
this goal, we need to allow for the fact that natural languages typically have
the property that they allow potentially infinite recursion of particular struc-
tures. For example, one Clause can be embedded inside another indefinitely
many times, [...]
- However, we have still not achieved our goal of devising a finite set of rules
- n! = n × (n − 1)! (for n > 0) or 1 (for n = 0) defines the factorial function using recursion.
-
- (computing) The calling of a function from within that same function.
- This function uses recursion to compute factorials.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
the act of recurring
in mathematics
|