[Blindmath] Bases, exponents, and recursion

[David Tseng]

Andy,

Are you sure you're not missing a caret (or super script) somewhere?

A base super exponent (or base^exponent) would make more sense.

So, the recurrence you're looking for is:
base^exponent = base * base^(exponent - 1).

In the context of a computer science course (most likely discrete
mathematics), this is meant to get you thinking about the power procedure
as a recursive problem.

HTH,
David


On Sun, Sep 8, 2013 at 2:47 PM, Bente Casilenc <bente at casilenc.com> wrote:

> Andy
>
> After looking at your example I will modify my previous statement. It
> looks to me like they want your power function to return the exponential
> problem as a multiplication problem. In essence you are returning a problem
> that shows the base multiplied by itself so working off your example you
> would see power (3,2) and your function would return 3*3 because 3 to the
> second power is a shortcut for representing 3 times 3 .  Hope this helps.
>
> Bente
> bente at casilenc.com
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Sep 8, 2013, at 5:01 PM, "Andy B." <sonfire11 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I have what most likely is a simple problem. However, it is quite
> > complicated to figure out. I have the following problem I have to solve:
> >
> >
> >
> > Create a function called power that takes a base and exponent as the
> > arguments, then returns a base exponent. For example, power(2,5)=
> 2*2*2*2*2.
> > In the recursion step, use the relationship:
> >
> > Base exponent=base*base exponent-1
> >
> >
> >
> > I am totally confused. What exactly is a base exponent?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > The sample that I have used 6! As an example, but it doesn't seem to help
> > when trying to figure out the power of a number through recursion. I
> assume
> > the example wants something like this:
> >
> >
> >
> > Power(2,5)=
> >
> >
> >
> > Recursion steps:
> >
> > Exponent = result
> >
> > 1=2
> >
> > 2=4
> >
> > 3=8
> >
> > 4=16
> >
> > 5=32
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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