Detailed Explanation of Three Methods of Decomposing Numbers in JavaScript

This article is based on the free code camp basic algorithm script "Decomposition Numbers"

In mathematics, the factorial of non-negative integer n may be a tricky algorithm. In this article, I'll explain this approach, first using recursive functions, second using loops, and third using loops.

Algorithm challenge

Returns the factorial of the whole provided.

If the whole is represented by the letter n, the factorial is the product of all positive integers less than or equal to n.

Factorial is often abbreviated by n! Indicate!

For example: 5! = 1 * 2 * 3 * 4 * 5 = 120

function factorialize(num) {
 return num;
}
factorialize(5);

Test cases provided

factorialize (0) should return 1 factorialize (5) should return 120 factorialize (10) should return 3628800 factorialize (20) should return 2432902008176640000

What is factorization?

When one factor is decomposed, it is called a number multiplied by each consecutive number minus one.

If your phone number is 5, you will:

5! = 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1

The pattern is:

0! = 1
1! = 1
2! = 2 * 1
3! = 3 * 2 * 1
4! = 4 * 3 * 2 * 1
5! = 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1

1. Decompose a number recursively

function factorialize(num) {
 // If the number is less than 0, reject it.
 if (num < 0) 
  return -1;
 
 // If the number is 0, its factorial is 1.
 else if (num == 0) 
  return 1;
 
 // Otherwise, call the recursive procedure again
 else {
  return (num * factorialize(num - 1));
  /* 
  First Part of the recursion method
  You need to remember that you won't have just one call, you'll have several nested calls
  
  Each call: num === "?"     num * factorialize(num - 1)
  1st call  In fact, in fact, the  factorialize(5) will return 5 * factorialize(5 - 1) // factorialize(4)
  2nd call  In fact, in fact, the  factorialize(4) will return 4 * factorialize(4 - 1) // factorialize(3)
  3rd call  In fact, in fact, the  factorialize(3) will return 3 * factorialize(3 - 1) // factorialize(2)
  4th call  In fact, in fact, the  factorialize(2) will return 2 * factorialize(2 - 1) // factorialize(1)
  5th call  In fact, in fact, the  factorialize(1) will return 1 * factorialize(1 - 1) // factorialize(0)
  
  Second part of the recursion method
  The method hits the if condition, it returns 1 which num will multiply itself with
  The function will exit with the total value
  
  5th call will return (5 * (5 - 1))  // num = 5 * 4
  4th call will return (20 * (4 - 1)) // num = 20 * 3
  3rd call will return (60 * (3 - 1)) // num = 60 * 2
  2nd call will return (120 * (2 - 1)) // num = 120 * 1
  1st call will return (120)    // num = 120
  
  If we sum up all the calls in one line, we have
  (5 * (5 - 1) * (4 - 1) * (3 - 1) * (2 - 1)) = 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 120
  */
 }
}
factorialize(5);

No comment:

function factorialize(num) {
 if (num < 0) 
  return -1;
 else if (num == 0) 
  return 1;
 else {
  return (num * factorialize(num - 1));
 }
}
factorialize(5);

2. Decompose a number with an WHILE loop

function factorialize(num) {
 // Step 1. Create a variable result to store num
 var result = num;
 
 // If num = 0 OR num = 1, the factorial will return 1
 if (num === 0 || num === 1) 
 return 1; 
 
 // Step 2. Create the WHILE loop 
 while (num > 1) { 
 num--; // decrementation by 1 at each iteration
 result = result * num; // or result *= num; 
 /* 
     num   num--  var result  result *= num   
 1st iteration: 5    4   5    20 = 5 * 4  
 2nd iteration: 4    3   20    60 = 20 * 3
 3rd iteration: 3    2   60   120 = 60 * 2
 4th iteration: 2    1   120   120 = 120 * 1
 5th iteration: 1    0   120
 End of the WHILE loop 
 */
 }
  
 // Step 3. Return the factorial of the provided integer
 return result; // 120
}
factorialize(5);

No comment:

function factorialize(num) {
 var result = num;
 if (num === 0 || num === 1) 
 return 1; 
 while (num > 1) { 
 num--;
 result *= num;
 }
 return result;
}
factorialize(5);

3. Decompose numbers using the FOR loop

function factorialize(num) {
 // If num = 0 OR num = 1, the factorial will return 1
 if (num === 0 || num === 1)
 return 1;
 
 // We start the FOR loop with i = 4
 // We decrement i after each iteration 
 for (var i = num - 1; i >= 1; i--) {
 // We store the value of num at each iteration
 num = num * i; // or num *= i;
 /* 
     num  var i = num - 1  num *= i   i--  i >= 1?
 1st iteration: 5   4 = 5 - 1   20 = 5 * 4  3   yes 
 2nd iteration: 20   3 = 4 - 1   60 = 20 * 3  2   yes
 3rd iteration: 60   2 = 3 - 1  120 = 60 * 2  1   yes 
 4th iteration: 120   1 = 2 - 1  120 = 120 * 1  0   no    
 5th iteration: 120    0    120
 End of the FOR loop 
 */
 }
 return num; //120
}
factorialize(5);

No comment:

function factorialize(num) {
 if (num === 0 || num === 1)
 return 1;
 for (var i = num - 1; i >= 1; i--) {
 num *= i;
 }
 return num;
}
factorialize(5);