Written by the Fiveable Content Team โข Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 examโขWritten by the Fiveable Content Team โข Last updated September 2025
Definition
A recursive method is a function that calls itself within its own body, allowing for repetitive execution of a task by breaking it down into smaller, similar subtasks.
The base case is the condition in a recursive method that stops the recursion from happening and returns a result.
Recursive call: The recursive call is the statement within a recursive method that invokes itself with different parameters.
Stack frame: A stack frame is an area in memory where all local variables and information about their execution context are stored during each invocation of a recursive method.