recursion
/ɹɪˈkɜː(ɹ)ʒən/ noun
Forms recursions
- noun The act of recurring.
- noun (mathematics) The act of defining an object (usually a function) in terms of that object itself. “n! = n × (n − 1)! (for n > 0) or 1 (for n = 0) defines the factorial function using recursion.”
- noun (programming) The invocation of a procedure from within itself. “This function uses recursion to compute factorials.”
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin recursiō (“the act of running back or again, return”), from recurrō (“run back; return”), from re- (“back, again”) + currō (“run”).
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [L. recursio. See Recur.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “recursion”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details