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Gongjun Yan
RECURSION
(TEXTBOOK: §4.3, §4.4)
2008/10/29
 §4.3: Recursive Definitions
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 A recursive definition of a set always consists of

three distinct clauses:
 The basis clause (or simply basis) establishes that
certain objects are in the set.
 The inductive clause (or simply induction) establishes the
ways in which elements of the set can be combined to
produce new elements of the set.
 The extremal clause asserts that unless an object
satisfying basis clause and inductive clause, the
object is not a member of the set.
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 Example 1
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 Examples of Recursive Definition of Set

 Example 1. Definition of the Set of Natural
Numbers
The set N is the set that satisfies the following three
clauses:
Basis Clause: 0  N
Inductive Clause: For any element x in N, x + 1 is
in N.
Extremal Clause: Nothing is in N unless it is
obtained from the Basis and Inductive Clauses.
Set Theory 29 October 2008
 Example 2
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 Example 2. Definition of the Set of Even Integers

The set EI is the set that satisfies the following three

clauses:

Basis Clause: 0  EI
Inductive Clause: For any element x in EI, x + 2,
and x - 2 are in EI.
Extremal Clause: Nothing is in EI unless it is
obtained from the Basis and Inductive Clauses.
29 October 2008
 Tips
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 Tips for recursively defining a set:

For the "Basis Clause", try simplest elements in the
set such as smallest numbers (0, or 1), simplest
expressions, or shortest strings. Then see how other
elements can be obtained from them, and
generalize that generation process for the "Inductive
Clause".
 Game Time

29 October 2008
 generalized union
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Set Theory 29 October 2008

 Recursive Definition of Function
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 Some functions can also be defined recursively.

Condition: The domain of the function you wish to

define recursively must be a set defined recursively.
How to define function recursively:
 Firstthe values of the function for the basis elements of
the domain are specified.
 Then the value of the function at an element, say x, of
the domain is defined using its value at the parent(s) of
the element x.
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 Example
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 Example 3: The function f(n) = n! for natural

numbers n can be defined recursively as follows:
 Basis Clause: f(0) = 0! = 1
 Inductive Clause: For all natural number n, f(n+1) =
(n+1) f(n).
 Using this definition, 3! can be found as follows:
Since 0 ! = 1, 1 ! = 1 * 0 ! = 1 * 1 = 1 ,
Hence 2 ! = 2 * 1 ! = 2 * 1 = 2 .
Hence 3 ! = 3 * 2 ! = 3 * 2 * 1 = 6 .

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 Extremal Clause
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 Note that here Extremal Clause is not necessary

 because the set of natural numbers can be defined
recursively
 that has the extremal clause in it.
 So there is no chance of other elements to come into
the function being defined.

29 October 2008
 Examples
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 Example 4: The function f(n) = 2n for natural

numbers n can be defined recursively as follows:
Basis Clause: f(0) = 1
Inductive Clause: For all natural number n, f(n+1)
= 2 f(n) .
 Example 5: The function f(n) = 2n + 1 for natural
numbers n can be defined recursively as follows:
 Basis Clause: f(0) = 1
 Inductive Clause: For all natural number n, f(n+1) =
f(n) + 2 .
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 More examples
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 Example 6: The function L from the set S of strings

over {a, b} to the set of natural numbers that gives
the length of a string can be defined recursively as
follows:
Basis Clause: For symbols a and b of the
alphabet, L(a) = 1 and L(b) = 1.
Inductive Clause: For any string x and y of S, L(xy)
= L(x) + L(y) , where xy is the concatenation of
strings x and y.

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 The Fibonacci Series
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 The Fibonacci series fn≥0 is a famous series defined

by:
f0 :≡ 0, f1 :≡ 1, fn≥2 :≡ fn−1 + fn−2

0
1 1
2 3
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 Tree Structures --- Rooted Trees
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 The set of rooted trees

 Root
 edges connecting these vertices
 can be defined recursively by these steps:
 BASIS STEP: A single vertex r is a rooted tree.
 RECURSIVE STEP: Suppose that T1,T2,…,Tn are disjoint rooted
trees with roots r1,r2,…,rn respectively. Then the graph formed by
starting with a root r, which is not in any of the rooted trees
T1,T2,…,Tn, and adding an edge from r to each of the vertices
r1,r2,…,rn is also a rooted tree.

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 Examples of Rooted Trees
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 Tree Structures --- Binary Trees
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 The set of extended binary trees can be defined

recursively by these steps:
 BASIS STEP: A empty set is an extended binary tree.
 RECURSIVE STEP: If T1 and T2 are disjoint extended
binary trees, there is an extended binary tree, denoted
by T1T2, containing of a root r together with edges
connecting the root to each of the roots of the left
subtree T1 and the right subtree T2 when these trees
are nonempty.

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 Example of Extended Binary Trees
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 Recursive Algorithms (§4.4)
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 Recursive definitions can be used to describe

algorithms as well as functions and sets.
 Example: A procedure to compute an.
procedure power(a≠0: real, nN)
if n = 0 then
return 1
else
return a · power(a, n−1)

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 Efficiency of Recursive Algorithms
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 The time complexity of a recursive algorithm may

depend critically on the number of recursive calls it
makes.
 Example: Modular exponentiation to a power n can
take log(n) time if done right, but linear time if
done slightly differently.
 Task:
Compute bn mod m, where
m≥2, n≥0, and 1≤b<m.

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 Modular Exponentiation
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Alg. #1
Uses the fact that bn = b·bn−1 and that
x·y mod m = x·(y mod m) mod m.
(Prove the latter theorem at home.)
procedure mpower(b≥1,n≥0,m>b N)
{Returns bn mod m.}
if n=0 then return 1 else
return (b·mpower(b,n−1,m)) mod m
Note this algorithm takes Θ(n) steps!

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 Modular Exponentiation
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Alg. #2
 Uses the fact that b2k = bk·2 = (bk)2.
procedure mpower(b,n,m) {same signature}
if n=0 then return 1
else if 2|n then
return mpower(b,n/2,m)2 mod m
else return (mpower(b,n−1,m)·b) mod m
What is its time complexity?
Θ(log n) steps

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 A Slight Variation
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Nearly identical but takes Θ(n) time instead!

procedure mpower(b,n,m) {same signature}
if n=0 then return 1
else if 2|n then
return (mpower(b,n/2,m)·
mpower(b,n/2,m)) mod m
else return (mpower(b,n−1,m)·b) mod m

The number of recursive calls made is critical.

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 Recursive Euclid’s Algorithm
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Compute Greatest common divisor

procedure gcd(a,bN)
if a = 0 then return b
else return gcd(b mod a, a)

 Example: gcd(5,8) = gcd(8%5,5)=gcd(3,5)=

 gcd(5%3,3) = gcd(2,3) = gcd(3%2,2) = gcd(1,2)
 =gcd(2%1,1)=gcd(0,1) = 1

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 Sequential Search
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 Input: L is an array, i and j are positive integers, i j,

and x is the key to be searched for in L.
Output: If x is in L between indexes i and j, then
output its index, else output 0.
Algorithm:
if i j , then
{
if L(i) = x, then return i ;
else return SeqSearch(L, i+1, j, x)
}
else return 0. 29 October 2008
 Ackermann’s Function
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 Find the value A(1,0), A(0,1), A(1,1), and A(2,2)

according to the following recursive definition.

2 n if m  0
0 if m  1 and n  0

Am.n   
2 if m  1 and n  1
 Am  1, A(m, n  1) 
 if m  1 and n  2

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 Game Time
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 Game Time

29 October 2008