Rekurzíva

Rekurzíva is a term used in computing and mathematics to describe a process or definition that is self-referential. A function or procedure is recursive if it calls itself within its own definition. This is a powerful concept that allows for elegant solutions to complex problems.

In programming, a recursive function typically has two parts: a base case and a recursive step. The base case is a condition that stops the recursion, preventing an infinite loop. The recursive step is where the function calls itself with a modified input, moving closer to the base case. For example, calculating the factorial of a number is often demonstrated using recursion. The factorial of n (n!) is n multiplied by the factorial of (n-1), with the base case being that the factorial of 0 is 1.

In mathematics, recursion is used to define sequences or sets. A recursive definition specifies the initial elements and a rule for generating subsequent elements from existing ones. For instance, the Fibonacci sequence is defined recursively: the first two numbers are 0 and 1, and each subsequent number is the sum of the two preceding ones.

While recursion can lead to concise and readable code, it's important to be mindful of potential issues such as stack overflow errors if the recursion depth becomes too large, or inefficient performance if the problem is not well-suited for a recursive approach. Often, recursive solutions can be translated into iterative ones, which may be more efficient in some cases.