Recursive structures

Recursive structures:
Recursive structures are structures that contain a smaller version of itself
Example: this triangle is made up with 3 triangles that is identical to itself

Problems that have a recursive nature

Some problems have a recursive nature:

To solve the (orginal) problem, you end up solving one or more smaller problems
Each of the smaller problem have the same description as the (original) problem

Illustration: imagine that each doll represents a problem

Solving the (original) problem requires us to solve one or more smaller problem(s)

Recursion: recursive method

Recursive method:
A recusive method is a method that invokes itself.
This technique is called recursion:
Recursion is a powerful programming technique to solve problems that have a recursive nature
In some cases, recursion enables you to write a very simple solution to solve an otherwise difficult problem.
This chapter introduces the concepts and techniques of recursive programming and illustrates with examples of how to "think recursively".