Python Program to Find Factorial of a Number Using Recursion

By SivamPython
Python Program to Find Factorial of a Number Using Recursion
Reading Time: 6 minutes

Introduction:

The program is a factorial calculator implemented using recursion in Python. It allows the user to input a number and calculates its factorial. The factorial of a non-negative integer n, denoted as n!, is the product of all positive integers less than or equal to n.

Explanation:

  1. The program begins with an introduction line that displays the heading “Factorial Calculator using Recursion”.
  2. A recursive function named factorial is defined, which takes an argument n. This function calculates the factorial of n using recursion.
  3. The factorial function contains a base case: if n is equal to 0, it returns 1. This handles the termination condition of the recursion.
  4. For any other value of n, the function recursively calls itself with the argument n – 1 and multiplies the result by n. This step continues until the base case is reached.
  5. After defining the factorial function, the program prompts the user to enter a number using the input function and converts it to an integer using int().
  6. The program then checks if the input number is less than 0. If so, it prints a message stating that the factorial is not defined for negative numbers.
  7. If the input number is 0, the program prints a message stating that the factorial of 0 is 1. This covers the special case where the input is 0.
  8. For any positive input number, the program calls the factorial function with the input number as the argument and stores the result in the variable result.
  9. Finally, the program displays the factorial of the input number by printing a message that includes the input number and the calculated result.

The program demonstrates the concept of recursion by calculating the factorial of a number. Recursion is a programming technique in which a function calls itself to solve a smaller version of the problem until a base case is reached. In this case, the base case is when the input number becomes 0.

Note: Recursion can lead to stack overflow errors if the recursion depth becomes too large. However, for small input numbers, the program should work correctly.

Algorithm:

  1. Start by printing an introduction to the factorial calculator.
  2. Define a recursive function named factorial that takes an argument n.
  3. If n is equal to 0, return 1 since the factorial of 0 is defined as 1.
  4. Otherwise, return n multiplied by the factorial of n – 1.
  5. Ask the user to input a number.
  6. Check if the number is negative. If so, print a message that the factorial is not defined for negative numbers.
  7. If the number is 0, print a message stating that the factorial of 0 is 1.
  8. Otherwise, calculate the factorial of the input number using the factorial function and store the result in the result
  9. Print the factorial of the input number.

Program:

				
					# Introduction
print("Factorial Calculator using Recursion")
print("------------------------------------")
# Recursive function to calculate the factorial
def factorial(n):
    if n == 0:
        return 1
    else:
        return n * factorial(n - 1)
# Getting input from the user
num = int(input("Enter a number: "))
# Checking if the input is valid
if num < 0:
    print("Factorial is not defined for negative numbers.")
elif num == 0:
    print("Factorial of 0 is 1")
else:
    result = factorial(num)
    print("Factorial of", num, "is", result)

Input :

				
					Enter a number : 5

Output :

				
					Factorial of 5 is 120