I am currently enrolled in a programming class and we are covering recurrence relations. I was just wondering if, ever these actually get used on the job. If so, I'd love to hear some examples of when it is useful.
+4
A:
While you're unlikely to directly use the mathematics behind recurrence relations in your day-to-day coding, learning about them helps reinforce the general skill of thinking recursively, which is an exceptionally valuable (and practical!) skill.
Cory Petosky
2010-02-25 01:29:30
+1. There are two things that separate the great coders from the average ones - pointers, and recursion. If you understand those, you've already got a good lead on everyone who doesn't.
Anon.
2010-02-25 01:34:20
A:
Yes. You use recurrence all the time.
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2319870/recursive-list-of-lists-in-xsl
XML structures can be recursive.
The directory tree is recursive.
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2259016/traversal-of-a-tree-to-find-a-node
Tree search is recursive.
S.Lott
2010-02-25 01:32:23
yes, but as far as actually grinding out a recurrence relation as in the following posthttp://stackoverflow.com/questions/2053459/solving-a-recurrence-relation-using-iteration-method
segfault
2010-02-25 01:36:19
+4
A:
Among other things - college teaches you how to learn and how to think in new ways. Will you use the actual mathamatics behind recurrence relations - maybe not, but mastering it will help teach your brain new patterns of thinking that you will use every day as a programmer.
fupsduck
2010-02-26 07:39:37
+1
A:
One of the things I learned in my study is you don't want to learn, you want to learn how to think and to learn.
Matthieu
2010-02-26 07:44:42