Javascript for loop

Community Off Topic
1

function FirstFactorial(num) {

// code goes here
for(var i=num;i>=1;i–){

 var num1=num-1;
   num=num1*num;

}
return num;

}

// keep this function call here
FirstFactorial(5);

20741616380

Hey guys I am trying to get a factorial of a given number using for loop and function. I cant understand why the result is showing such a huge number. what kind of logical error is here.

2

I think the issue comes from you defining num1 as num - 1, because every time the loop iterates, it redefines num1 as the current num value minus one. After the first loop, num is equal to 20, which the code then reads as 20 * (20-1)

there are multiple fixes to this:

  1. You can define num1 outside of the for loop
  2. You can use i to determine the size of num1 inside the loop
  3. You can ditch the num1 variable altogether and just multiply num by i

Otherwise, your code works mostly as expected!

2 Likes
3

The decrement-shortcut is 2 minus-signs like
i--
copy-ing and testing your code gave an extended minus-sign !! being ascii 196 ─
instead of the required twice ascii 45 - (might be a transmission error…wireless, Phone or language-setting)

You could use some console.log()'s to get an idear what is going on
like

function FirstFactorial(num) {

// code goes here
  for(var i=num;i>=1;i--){
     console.log("========")
     var num1=num-1;
     num=num1*num;
     console.log(num1,num)
  }
 return num;
}
// keep this function call here
 FirstFactorial(5);

and as the FirstFactorial() function is using the RETURN statement, giving a result with NODISPLAY
you might want use
console.log( FirstFactorial(5) );

2 Likes
4

The large number is a product of the loop you’ve built. Here are the numbers for each loop to help you out:

Loop 1 → num = (5 - 1) x 5 = 20
Loop 2 → num = (20 - 1) x 20 = 380
Loop 3 → num = (380 - 1) x 380 = 144,020
and so on.

Add this line of code after the num=num1*num; to display what is happening in your loop:

// display what is happening in the loop.
console.log(i, num1, num);

Why?

  1. Compute with a range of numbers starting at the incoming down to 1.

With a factorial of 5!, we want to build a function that does the following 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1. Right? You have the numbers being decremented within the for loop via i. Did you notice that when you ran the above console.log()? It prints out 5, then 4, then 3, then 2, and then 1.

Think about that. Isn’t that what you want to do the equation?

  1. Compute a result of the product of the current number, which is in i x the current result.

Look at your code:

Notice that you’re assigning it back to the original variable of num. What is the value of num when you first start the loop?

What if instead, you create a new variable before the loop, e.g. var result = 1;. Hmm, then you keep assigning the product to result. And when you’re done, you return the factored result.

Try that.

2 Likes
5

Thanks mam !!! Its my 2nd day for learning coding. Even though i completed the basics it took 15 min for me to build this logic and still wrong :pensive:. I dont know is that only me or every programmer go through this phase. People say you must be genius to be good at coding…

6

This topic was automatically closed 7 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.