IT 117: Intermediate Scripting - Answers to Class 24 Ungraded Quiz

IT 117: Intermediate to Scripting
Answers to Class 24 Ungraded Quiz

What do you call a function that calls itself?
```
a recursive function
```
What must a recursive algorithm have in order to work?
```
a condition under which the recursion will stop
```
What do call the situation where a function calls itself directly?
```
direct recursion
```
What do you call the situation where a function calls another function, which then calls the original function?
```
indirect recursion
```
Can you rewrite any recursive function using a loop instead of recursion?
```
yes
```
Which is more efficient, a recursive algorithm or a non-recursive algorithm that does the same thing?
```
a non-recursive algorithm
```
Write a recursive function that counts down from some number. In other words, this function prints it's argument, than all numbers down to 1.
```
def count_down(num):	
         print(num)
         if num > 1:
			 count_down(num - 1)
```

Write a recursive function that calculates the factorial of a number.

def factorial(num):
         if num == 1:
             return 1
         else:
			 return factorial(num -1) * num