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Cyan comments on The Featherless Biped - Less Wrong
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Comments (63)
You need to be a little more careful about such absolute statements. The definition of factorial(.) as
factorial(n) = n*factorial(n-1)
factorial(0) = 1
references itself and is valid.
Recursive definitions are possible, but they must still be founded on a base level that does not reference itself. Each other level can then be defined in a way that is not self-referential.
Indeed. I'm just asking for a little precision, e.g., valid definitions cannot just reference themselves.
Some definitions which reference themselves plus something else are also invalid. :P
I presume that's why he said "e.g.", not "i.e."