Fast factorial function in JavaScript

Question

Looking for a really fast implementation of factorial function in JavaScript. Any suggests?

Answer 1

short and easy recursive function (you could do it with a loop, too, but i don't think that would make any difference in performance):

function factorial (n){
  if (n==0 || n==1){
    return 1;
  }
  return factorial(n-1)*n;
} 

for a very large n, you could use the stirlings approximation - but that will only give you an approximate value.

EDIT: a comment on why i'm getting a downvote for this would have been nice...

EDIT2: this would be the soulution using a loop (wich would be the better choice):

function factorial (n){
  j = 1;
  for(i=1;i<=n;i++){
    j = j*i;
  }
  return j;
}

i think the best solution would be to use the cached values, as Margus mentioned and use the stirlings approximation for larger values (assumed you have to be realy fast and don't have to be that exact on such big numbers).

Answer 2

You can use WolframAlpha to pre-calculate them - searching for (1...100)!

First 100 numbers are:

{1, 2, 6, 24, 120, 720, 5040, 40320, 362880, 3628800, 39916800, 479001600, 6227020800, 87178291200, 1307674368000, 20922789888000, 355687428096000, 6402373705728000, 121645100408832000, 2432902008176640000, 51090942171709440000, 1124000727777607680000, 25852016738884976640000, 620448401733239439360000, 15511210043330985984000000, 403291461126605635584000000, 10888869450418352160768000000, 304888344611713860501504000000, 8841761993739701954543616000000, 265252859812191058636308480000000, 8222838654177922817725562880000000, 263130836933693530167218012160000000, 8683317618811886495518194401280000000, 295232799039604140847618609643520000000, 10333147966386144929666651337523200000000, 371993326789901217467999448150835200000000, 13763753091226345046315979581580902400000000, 523022617466601111760007224100074291200000000, 20397882081197443358640281739902897356800000000, 815915283247897734345611269596115894272000000000, 33452526613163807108170062053440751665152000000000, 1405006117752879898543142606244511569936384000000000, 60415263063373835637355132068513997507264512000000000, 2658271574788448768043625811014615890319638528000000000, 119622220865480194561963161495657715064383733760000000000, 5502622159812088949850305428800254892961651752960000000000, 258623241511168180642964355153611979969197632389120000000000, 12413915592536072670862289047373375038521486354677760000000000, 608281864034267560872252163321295376887552831379210240000000000, 30414093201713378043612608166064768844377641568960512000000000000, 1551118753287382280224243016469303211063259720016986112000000000000, 80658175170943878571660636856403766975289505440883277824000000000000, 4274883284060025564298013753389399649690343788366813724672000000000000, 230843697339241380472092742683027581083278564571807941132288000000000000, 12696403353658275925965100847566516959580321051449436762275840000000000000, 710998587804863451854045647463724949736497978881168458687447040000000000000, 40526919504877216755680601905432322134980384796226602145184481280000000000000, 2350561331282878571829474910515074683828862318181142924420699914240000000000000, 138683118545689835737939019720389406345902876772687432540821294940160000000000000, 8320987112741390144276341183223364380754172606361245952449277696409600000000000000, 507580213877224798800856812176625227226004528988036003099405939480985600000000000000, 31469973260387937525653122354950764088012280797258232192163168247821107200000000000000, 1982608315404440064116146708361898137544773690227268628106279599612729753600000000000000, 126886932185884164103433389335161480802865516174545192198801894375214704230400000000000000, 8247650592082470666723170306785496252186258551345437492922123134388955774976000000000000000, 544344939077443064003729240247842752644293064388798874532860126869671081148416000000000000000, 36471110918188685288249859096605464427167635314049524593701628500267962436943872000000000000000, 2480035542436830599600990418569171581047399201355367672371710738018221445712183296000000000000000, 171122452428141311372468338881272839092270544893520369393648040923257279754140647424000000000000000, 11978571669969891796072783721689098736458938142546425857555362864628009582789845319680000000000000000, 850478588567862317521167644239926010288584608120796235886430763388588680378079017697280000000000000000, 61234458376886086861524070385274672740778091784697328983823014963978384987221689274204160000000000000000, 4470115461512684340891257138125051110076800700282905015819080092370422104067183317016903680000000000000000, 330788544151938641225953028221253782145683251820934971170611926835411235700971565459250872320000000000000000, 24809140811395398091946477116594033660926243886570122837795894512655842677572867409443815424000000000000000000, 1885494701666050254987932260861146558230394535379329335672487982961844043495537923117729972224000000000000000000, 145183092028285869634070784086308284983740379224208358846781574688061991349156420080065207861248000000000000000000, 11324281178206297831457521158732046228731749579488251990048962825668835325234200766245086213177344000000000000000000, 894618213078297528685144171539831652069808216779571907213868063227837990693501860533361810841010176000000000000000000, 71569457046263802294811533723186532165584657342365752577109445058227039255480148842668944867280814080000000000000000000, 5797126020747367985879734231578109105412357244731625958745865049716390179693892056256184534249745940480000000000000000000, 475364333701284174842138206989404946643813294067993328617160934076743994734899148613007131808479167119360000000000000000000, 39455239697206586511897471180120610571436503407643446275224357528369751562996629334879591940103770870906880000000000000000000, 3314240134565353266999387579130131288000666286242049487118846032383059131291716864129885722968716753156177920000000000000000000, 281710411438055027694947944226061159480056634330574206405101912752560026159795933451040286452340924018275123200000000000000000000, 24227095383672732381765523203441259715284870552429381750838764496720162249742450276789464634901319465571660595200000000000000000000, 2107757298379527717213600518699389595229783738061356212322972511214654115727593174080683423236414793504734471782400000000000000000000, 185482642257398439114796845645546284380220968949399346684421580986889562184028199319100141244804501828416633516851200000000000000000000, 16507955160908461081216919262453619309839666236496541854913520707833171034378509739399912570787600662729080382999756800000000000000000000, 1485715964481761497309522733620825737885569961284688766942216863704985393094065876545992131370884059645617234469978112000000000000000000000, 135200152767840296255166568759495142147586866476906677791741734597153670771559994765685283954750449427751168336768008192000000000000000000000, 12438414054641307255475324325873553077577991715875414356840239582938137710983519518443046123837041347353107486982656753664000000000000000000000, 1156772507081641574759205162306240436214753229576413535186142281213246807121467315215203289516844845303838996289387078090752000000000000000000000, 108736615665674308027365285256786601004186803580182872307497374434045199869417927630229109214583415458560865651202385340530688000000000000000000000, 10329978488239059262599702099394727095397746340117372869212250571234293987594703124871765375385424468563282236864226607350415360000000000000000000000, 991677934870949689209571401541893801158183648651267795444376054838492222809091499987689476037000748982075094738965754305639874560000000000000000000000, 96192759682482119853328425949563698712343813919172976158104477319333745612481875498805879175589072651261284189679678167647067832320000000000000000000000, 9426890448883247745626185743057242473809693764078951663494238777294707070023223798882976159207729119823605850588608460429412647567360000000000000000000000, 933262154439441526816992388562667004907159682643816214685929638952175999932299156089414639761565182862536979208272237582511852109168640000000000000000000000, 93326215443944152681699238856266700490715968264381621468592963895217599993229915608941463976156518286253697920827223758251185210916864000000000000000000000000}

And if your going to still want to calculate them, at least use memoization:

var f = new Array();
function factorial (n){
  if (n==0 || n==1){
    return 1;
  if(f[n]>0)
      return f[n];
  else
      return f[n]=factorial(n-1)*n;
} ​

Answer 3

You should use a loop ...

here are two versions benchmarked by calculating the factorial of 100 for 10.000 times..

Recursive

function rFact(num)
{
    if (num === 0)
      { return 1; }
    else
      { return num * rFact( num - 1 ); }
}

Loop

function sFact(num)
{
    var rval=1;
    for (var i = 2; i <= num; i++)
        rval = rval * i;
    return rval;
}

Live at : http://jsfiddle.net/xMpTv/

my results show
recursive ~ 150 milliseconds
loop ~ 5 milliseconds..

Answer 4

I still think Margus's answer is the best one. However if you want to calculate the factorials of numbers within the range 0 to 1 (ie the gamma function) as well, then you cannot use that approach because the lookup table will have to contain infinite values.

However, you can approximate the values of the factorials, and it's pretty fast, faster than recursively calling itself or looping it at least (especially when values start to get bigger).

A good approximation method is Lanczos's one

Here is an implementation in JavaScript (ported from a calculator I wrote months ago):

function factorial(op) {
 // Lanczos Approximation of the Gamma Function
 // As described in Numerical Recipes in C (2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 1992)
 var z = op + 1;
 var p = [1.000000000190015, 76.18009172947146, -86.50532032941677, 24.01409824083091, -1.231739572450155, 1.208650973866179E-3, -5.395239384953E-6];

 var d1 = Math.sqrt(2 * Math.PI) / z;
 var d2 = p[0];

 for (var i = 1; i <= 6; ++i)
  d2 += p[i] / (z + i);

 var d3 = Math.pow((z + 5.5), (z + 0.5));
 var d4 = Math.exp(-(z + 5.5));

 d = d1 * d2 * d3 * d4;

 return d;
}

You can now do cool stuff like factorial(0.41), etc however accuracy might be a little off, after all, it is an approximation of the result.

Answer 5

The code to calculate factorial depends on your requirements.

1. Are you concerned about overflow?
2. What range of inputs will you have?
3. Is it more important for you to minimize size or time?
4. What are you going to do with the factorial?

Regarding points 1 and 4, it is often more useful to have a function to evaluate the log of the factorial directly rather than to have a function to evaluate factorial itself.

Here's a blog post that discusses these issues. Here is some C# code for computing log factorial that would be trivial to port to JavaScript. But it may not be best for your needs depending on your answers to the questions above.

Answer 6

Lookup table is the obvious way to go, if you're working with natural numbers. To calculate any factorial in real-time, you can speed it with a cache, saving the numbers you've calculated before. Something like:

factorial = (function() {
    var cache = {},
        fn = function(n) {
            if (n === 0) {
                return 1;
            } else if (cache[n]) {
                return cache[n];
            }
            return cache[n] = n * fn(n -1);
        };
    return fn;
}();

You can precalculate some values in order to speed it even more.