The Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms
The Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms
A programming language
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Recursion is a powerful idea*—with correspondingly powerful implications for learning and teaching mathematics. Computer scientists have previously pointed out that the use of recursion often permits more lucid and concise descriptions of algorithms [1]; mathematicians know that recursion is a fundamental concept upon which entire systems of mathematics can be built [11]; and, the theory of recursive functions is now developing into an area of mathematics whose importance has been compared with that of geometry and algebra [3]. The purposes of this paper are to illuminate the fundamentals of recursion; to illustrate several recursive computer programs which provide perspicuous representations of certain mathematical procedures; and to invite students and teachers of mathematics to reach greater understandings by trying them.