From 55a9cbd33e1898ccd2f2c439fc2940c2a8d14ca0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ultimatejedi <wlramsey@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2024 05:16:30 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] Update introduction.md (#2407)

---
 concepts/recursion/introduction.md | 72 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 71 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/concepts/recursion/introduction.md b/concepts/recursion/introduction.md
index 83d31dab92..28571cd59a 100644
--- a/concepts/recursion/introduction.md
+++ b/concepts/recursion/introduction.md
@@ -1,3 +1,73 @@
 # Introduction
 
-TODO: add introduction for recursion concept
+The ability for something to be defined in terms of itself is called recursion.
+Recursive functions are functions that call themselves.
+
+Suppose that you have a function called `recurse`.
+This function is recursive if it calls itself inside its body, like this:
+
+```js
+function recurse() {
+  // ...
+  recurse();
+  // ...
+}
+```
+
+A recursive function usually has a condition to stop calling itself and return a value, known as a _base case_.
+If a base case is missing, in most cases, because it will call itself indefinitely, it would be able to run forever.
+In reality, in most of those situations, you'll end up with a "StackSize error": an error raised by the runtime because the _stack_ of function calls has grown beyond a predefined limit because each recursive call adds to this _stack_ until it returns (and it doesn't).
+The message of this error is `Maximum call stack size exceeded`.
+
+```js
+function recurse() {
+  if (baseCondition) {
+    // stop calling itself
+    //...
+  } else {
+    recurse();
+  }
+}
+```
+
+Recursive functions often can be used instead of `for` loops for more succinct code.
+For example, take a countdown.
+Here's the more intuitive `for` loop approach:
+
+```js
+function countDown(fromNumber) {
+  for (let i = fromNumber; i > 0; i--) {
+    console.log(i);
+  }
+}
+
+countDown(3); // 3, 2, 1 in separate lines
+```
+
+We could solve this using recursion too:
+
+```js
+function countDown(fromNumber) {
+  console.log(fromNumber);
+  if (fromNumber > 1) {
+    countDown(fromNumber - 1);
+  }
+}
+
+countDown(3); // same result
+```
+
+Here, our base case is when `fromNumber` is 1, in which case we don't call `countDown` again.
+
+Apart from just displaying numbers, recursive functions can be used for more complicated procedures, such as keeping a sum or total.
+
+```js
+function sum(n) {
+  if (n <= 1) {
+    return n;
+  }
+  return n + sum(n - 1);
+}
+
+sum(3); // 6
+```