Help understanding this function!

[laylo]

I put this function in firebug and it returns the value 24. I just need help of someone explaning me as simple but descriptive as possible how the code works.

function factorial(n) {
var product= 1;
while(n > 1) {product *= n;
n--;
}
return product;
}
factorial(4)

i was just reading a book and these were just one of the examples of functions which I was trying to understand better.

[Philip M]

function factorial(n) { // the value of n (here 4) is passed to the function
var product = 1; // initialise the variable product to 1
while (n > 1) { // loop repeatedly while the value of n is a number greater than 1 (the initial value is 4)
alert (product + " " + n); // to observe the detail of the operation
product *= n; // multiply the current value of product by the current value of n (a shorthand for product = product * n)
// first pass 1 * 4 = 4
// second pass 4 * 3 = 12
// third pass 12 * 2 = 24
// fourth pass - n is now 1 so while loop terminates (no need to multiply by 1)
alert (product); // to observe intermediate result
n--; // subtract 1 from the value of n (same as n = n-1)
} // do the while loop again as long as n is greater than 1

alert (product); // final result 24 = 4*3*2*1 (or 4! in maths notation)
return product; // return the value of product to the calling function
}

factorial(4); // call the function passing the value 4 to it


OK?

[laylo]

Thank you my friend! Your comments really helped.