This article is based on Free Code Camp Basic Algorithm Scripting “Factorialize a Number”

In mathematics, the factorial of a non-negative integer n can be a tricky algorithm. In this article, I’m going to explain three approaches, first with the recursive function, second using a while loop and third using a for loop.

We have already seen a recursion approach on a String in the previous article, How to Reverse a String in JavaScript in 3 Different Ways ? This time we will apply the same concept on a number.

Algorithm Challenge

Return the factorial of the provided integer.



If the integer is represented with the letter n, a factorial is the product of all positive integers less than or equal to n.



Factorials are often represented with the shorthand notation n!



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

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

Provided test cases

factorialize(0) should return 1

should return 1 factorialize(5) should return 120

should return 120 factorialize(10) should return 3628800

should return 3628800 factorialize(20) should return 2432902008176640000

What is factorializing a number all about?

When you factorialize a number, you are multiplying that number by each consecutive number minus one.

If your number is 5, you would have:

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

The pattern would be:

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

1. Factorialize a Number With Recursion

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 – factorialize(5) will return 5 * factorialize(5 - 1) // factorialize(4) 2nd call – factorialize(4) will return 4 * factorialize(4 - 1) // factorialize(3) 3rd call – factorialize(3) will return 3 * factorialize(3 - 1) // factorialize(2) 4th call – factorialize(2) will return 2 * factorialize(2 - 1) // factorialize(1) 5th call – 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);

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

2. Factorialize a Number with a 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);

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

3. Factorialize a Number with a 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);

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

I hope you found this helpful. This is part of my “How to Solve FCC Algorithms” series of articles on the Free Code Camp Algorithm Challenges, where I propose several solutions and explain step-by-step what happens under the hood.

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