4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Recursion  \Re*cur"sion\  (-sh?n),  n.  [L.  recursio.  See  {Recur}.] 
  The  act  of  recurring;  return.  [Obs.]  --Boyle. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  recursion 
  n  :  (mathematics)  an  expression  such  that  each  term  is  generated 
  by  repeating  a  particular  mathematical  operation 
 
  From  Jargon  File  (4.2.3,  23  NOV  2000)  [jargon]: 
 
  recursion  n.  See  {recursion}.  See  also  {tail  recursion}. 
 
 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  recursion 
 
    When  a  {function}  (or  {procedure}) 
  calls  itself  Such  a  function  is  called  "recursive".  If  the 
  call  is  via  one  or  more  other  functions  then  this  group  of 
  functions  are  called  "mutually  recursive". 
 
  If  a  function  will  always  call  itself  however  it  is  called 
  then  it  will  never  terminate.  Usually  however,  it  first 
  performs  some  test  on  its  arguments  to  check  for  a  "base  case" 
  -  a  condition  under  which  it  can  return  a  value  without 
  calling  itself 
 
  The  {canonical}  example  of  a  recursive  function  is 
  {factorial}: 
 
  factorial  0  =  1 
  factorial  n  =  n  *  factorial  (n-1) 
 
  {Functional  programming  languages}  rely  heavily  on  recursion, 
  using  it  where  a  {procedural  language}  would  use  {iteration}. 
 
  See  also  {recursion},  {recursive  definition},  {tail  recursion}. 
 
  [{Jargon  File}] 
 
  (1996-05-11) 
 
 

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