Definitions

   The factorial of   0   (zero)   is defined as being   1   (unity).
   The   Factorial Function   of a positive integer,    n,    is defined as the product of the sequence:
                 n,   n-1,   n-2,   ...   1 



Task

Write a function to return the factorial of a number.

Solutions can be iterative or recursive.

Support for trapping negative    n    errors is optional.



Related task

   Primorial numbers


 
note
	description: "recursive and iterative factorial example of a positive integer."
 
class
	FACTORIAL_EXAMPLE
 
create
	make
 
feature -- Initialization
 
	make
		local
			n: NATURAL
		do
			n := 5
			print ("%NFactorial of " + n.out + " = ")
			print (recursive_factorial (n))
		end
 
feature -- Access
 
	recursive_factorial (n: NATURAL): NATURAL
			-- factorial of 'n'
		do
			if n = 0 then
				Result := 1
			else
				Result := n * recursive_factorial (n - 1)
			end
		end
 
	iterative_factorial (n: NATURAL): NATURAL
			-- factorial of 'n'
		local
			v: like n
		do
			from
				Result := 1
				v := n
			until
				v <= 1
			loop
				Result := Result * v
				v := v - 1
			end
		end
 
end
 