Recursion Made Simple: How Two Calls Shape Your Code | binary recursion

In recursion, when a function makes two recursive calls within its body, it is referred to as binary recursion . This is because the recursion "branches" into two parts at each step, much like a binary tree. Binary Recursion : A function that calls itself twice within the recursive case, creating two subproblems for each call. As in your example, the function counter(n) calls counter(n - 1) twice, causing the recursion to branch into two directions. This leads to a recursive tree with exponential growth, which results in the time complexity of O(2^n), as seen in the image. Recursion is a fundamental programming technique where a function calls itself to solve smaller instances of the same problem. This image beautifully illustrates how recursion works through a simple counter function that prints numbers, and the recursion unfolds into a tree-like structure. Let’s break it down step by step. ----- function counter ( n ) { if (n > 0 ) { console . log (n); ...