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Recursion vs Repetition - What's the difference?

recursion | repetition |

As nouns the difference between recursion and repetition

is that recursion is the act of recurring while repetition is the act or an instance of repeating or being repeated.

As a verb repetition is

to petition again.

recursion

Noun

(en noun)
  • The act of recurring.
  • (mathematics) The act of defining an object (usually a function) in terms of that object itself.
  • *
  • However, we have still not achieved our goal of devising a finite'' set of rules
    which will generate an ''infinite'' set of sentence structures. In order to achieve
    this goal, we need to allow for the fact that natural languages typically have
    the property that they allow potentially infinite ''recursion'' of particular struc-
    tures. For example, one Clause can be ''embedded
    inside another indefinitely
    many times, [...]
    n! = n × (n − 1)! (for n > 0) or 1 (for n = 0) defines the factorial function using recursion.
  • (computing) The calling of a function from within that same function.
  • This function uses recursion to compute factorials.

    Derived terms

    * tail recursion * infinite recursion

    repetition

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) repetitionem'' (accusative singular of ''repetitio ).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act or an instance of repeating or being repeated.
  • *
  • *:Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations. It is easily earned repetition to state that Josephine St. Auban's was a presence not to be concealed.
  • (lb): The act of performing a single, controlled exercise motion; also called a rep'. A group of ' repetitions is a set.
  • Etymology 2

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To petition again.
  • * 2011 , Anneke Campbell, ?Thomas Lizney, Be the Change (page 7)
  • The group went through several rounds at different courts, petitioning and repetitioning , losing again and again.

    Anagrams

    * ----