What is the fastest factorial function in JavaScript?
You can search for (1...100)! on Wolfram|Alpha to pre-calculate the factorial sequence.
The 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
If you still want to calculate the values yourself, you can use memoization:
var f = [];
function factorial (n) {
if (n == 0 || n == 1)
return 1;
if (f[n] > 0)
return f[n];
return f[n] = factorial(n-1) * n;
}
Edit: 21.08.2014
Solution 2
I thought it would be useful to add a working example of lazy iterative factorial function that uses big numbers to get exact result with memoization and cache as comparison
var f = [new BigNumber("1"), new BigNumber("1")];
var i = 2;
function factorial(n)
{
if (typeof f[n] != 'undefined')
return f[n];
var result = f[i-1];
for (; i <= n; i++)
f[i] = result = result.multiply(i.toString());
return result;
}
var cache = 100;
// Due to memoization, following line will cache first 100 elements.
factorial(cache);
I assume you would use some kind of closure to limit variable name visibility.
Ref: BigNumber
Sandbox: JsFiddle
What is the fastest factorial function in JavaScript?
You can search for (1...100)! on Wolfram|Alpha to pre-calculate the factorial sequence.
The 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
If you still want to calculate the values yourself, you can use memoization:
var f = [];
function factorial (n) {
if (n == 0 || n == 1)
return 1;
if (f[n] > 0)
return f[n];
return f[n] = factorial(n-1) * n;
}
Edit: 21.08.2014
Solution 2
I thought it would be useful to add a working example of lazy iterative factorial function that uses big numbers to get exact result with memoization and cache as comparison
var f = [new BigNumber("1"), new BigNumber("1")];
var i = 2;
function factorial(n)
{
if (typeof f[n] != 'undefined')
return f[n];
var result = f[i-1];
for (; i <= n; i++)
f[i] = result = result.multiply(i.toString());
return result;
}
var cache = 100;
// Due to memoization, following line will cache first 100 elements.
factorial(cache);
I assume you would use some kind of closure to limit variable name visibility.
Ref: BigNumber
Sandbox: JsFiddle
How to get Factorial of number in JavaScript?
The pictured code (please include actual code in the future, not screenshots of code) returns fact
immediately:
for ( n = 1; n <= num; n++ ) {
return fact * n;
}
since n
starts at 1
.
What you want is to include fact
in the function, and multiply it as the loop goes along, then return:
function factorial(n) {
var fact = 1;
for ( n = 2; n <= num; n++ ) {
fact = fact * n;
}
return fact;
}
Why simple factorial algorithms in JS are much faster than in Python or R?
In detail I can only speak for R, but here are my 2ct. Maybe you can analyze what happens in the other languages and then come to conclusions.
First of all, however, your R version of factorialRecursive
is not recursive: you call R's factorial (n - 1)
which uses the $\Gamma$ function.
Here are my benchmarking results including the factorial via the gamma function and a more Rish (vectorized) way of expressing the iterative calculation:
> factorialCumprod <- function(n) cumprod (seq_len (n))[n]
> microbenchmark(factorial(150),
factorialRecursive(150), factorialTailRecursive(150),
factorialIterF(150), factorialIterW(150), factorialCumprod (150),
times = 5000)
Unit: microseconds
expr min lq median uq max neval
factorial(150) 1.258 2.026 2.2360 2.5850 55.386 5000
factorialRecursive(150) 273.014 281.325 285.0265 301.2310 2699.336 5000
factorialTailRecursive(150) 291.732 301.858 306.4690 323.9295 4958.803 5000
factorialIterF(150) 71.728 74.941 76.1290 78.7830 2894.819 5000
factorialIterW(150) 218.118 225.102 228.0360 238.3020 78845.045 5000
factorialCumprod(150) 3.493 4.959 5.3790 5.9375 65.444 5000
microbenchmark
randomizes the order of the function calls. Sometimes that does make a difference compared to executing blocks of exactly the same function call.
I guess what you can learn here is that you need to take into account design decisions by the developers of a language/language implementation when you choose your algorithm.
R is known to be slow at recursion. I find that a simple function call without doing anything but return a constant already costs about 750 ns, so the 150 function calls in would account already for about half the time of the recursive algorithms. Directly calling gamma (150 + 1)
instead of doing this indirectly by factorial (150)
yields a similar difference. If you want to know more why this is so, you'll have to ask the R core team.
The loops spend an amazing amount of overhead on checking things. To give you an impression:
> for (i in 1 : 3) {
+ cat (i ," ")
+ i <- 10
+ cat (i ,"\n")
+ }
1 10
2 10
3 10
I think saving this work is essentially where the speedup in vectorized functions comes from.
The difference between the while
and for
iterative versions probably comes from the fact that the n : 1
in the for
loop is vectorized. Taking this a step further, i.e. using the cumprod
function R provides for cumulative products considerably speeds up the calculations: we're within a factor of 2 - 3 compared to R's base implementation $\Gamma$ function (you may argue that this is cheating because cumprod probably has a C function behind - but then the R interpreter is written in C, so distinctions are a bit blurred here).
I think essentially you are paying heavily here for all the safety checks R has and has to have as it is tailored to interactive use.
See "Why does Python code run faster in a function?" for somewhat related issues in Python.
Take home message 1: both recursion and explict loops in R are a sensible option only if the computation in each function call/inside the loop is complicated enough so the overhead doesn't matter.
Take home message 2: Knowing your math can help tremendously: R's factorial
has constant run time (about 1.8 μs on my laptop):
Take home message 3: However, does that speed-up matter at all? For factorials, probably not:
the graph goes over the whole range of x where the result can be held by a double. The computations by both functions do not take more than ca. 5 μs. Even your "worst" function does it in 500 μs. If you had large numbers of factorials to calculate, you'd use a look-up table: a vector of 170 elements isn't that big. factorialCumprod
calculates the whole thing within 5 μs for you.
If you happen to need factorials of larger numbers for your calculations, probably you should try hard to reformulate the problem - I'd anyways expect that numeric trouble is right behind the corner (even if you can use big integers - in R there are packages gmp and Rmpfr)
PS: in case you are wondering about Fibonacci numbers which cannot be replaced by a similarly convenient cumprod
or cumsum
call, see these blog posts about the recursive and iterative calculation (The worst algorithm in the world?) and the closed form calculation (Computing Fibonacci numbers using Binet’s formula)
Finding the factorial using a loop in javascript
here is an error i <= inputNumber
should be i < inputNumber
var inputNumber = prompt('Please enter an integer');var total = 1;
for (i = 0; i < inputNumber; i++){ total = total * (inputNumber - i);}
console.log(inputNumber + '! = ' + total);
Factorialize a number using Javascript arrays
in the first iteration, arrayOfFactorial
will be of length 1, and i will be equal to num which will be more than 1, you are trying to access arrayOfFactorial[num]
which will be undefined and that is why you get NaN.
you can just multiply factorial with i. Also you don't really need another array for this.
function factorialize(num) { var arrayOfFactorial = []; var factorial = 1; for(var i = num;i > 0;i--){ arrayOfFactorial.push([i]); //can be removed. factorial = factorial * i; }
return factorial;}
console.log(factorialize(10));
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