Introduction

Introduction to Python ProgrammingIntroduction

Photo of a seashell showing recursive spiral pattern.

Figure 12.1 credit: modification of work "Rings from the Ocean", by Sue Corbisez/Flickr, CC BY 2.0

Chapter Outline

12.1 Recursion basics

12.2 Simple math recursion

12.3 Recursion with strings and lists

12.4 More math recursion

12.5 Using recursion to solve problems

12.6 Chapter summary

Recursion is a powerful programming technique to write solutions compactly. Recursion simplifies programs by calling smaller versions of a given problem that are used to generate the solution to the overall problem.

In advanced programming, some programs are difficult to write without the use of recursion. So recursion is also a style of programming that enables us to simplify programs.

Recursion enables a piece of code, a function, to call the same piece of code, the same function, with different parameters.

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- Authors: Udayan Das, Aubrey Lawson, Chris Mayfield, Narges Norouzi
- Publisher/website: OpenStax
- Book title: Introduction to Python Programming
- Publication date: Mar 13, 2024
- Location: Houston, Texas
- Book URL: https://openstax.org/books/introduction-python-programming/pages/1-introduction
- Section URL: https://openstax.org/books/introduction-python-programming/pages/12-introduction

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