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19.11: Exercises

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    Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\)

    The following is a function computes the binomial coefficient recursively.

    def binomial_coeff(n, k):
        """Compute the binomial coefficient "n choose k".
    
        n: number of trials
        k: number of successes
    
        returns: int
        """
        if k == 0:
            return 1
        if n == 0:
            return 0
    
        res = binomial_coeff(n-1, k) + binomial_coeff(n-1, k-1)
        return res
    

    Rewrite the body of the function using nested conditional expressions.

    One note: this function is not very efficient because it ends up computing the same values over and over. You could make it more efficient by memoizing (see Section 11.6). But you will find that it’s harder to memoize if you write it using conditional expressions.


    This page titled 19.11: Exercises is shared under a CC BY-NC 3.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Allen B. Downey (Green Tea Press) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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