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Scala program to find factorial of a number

Scala | Finding factorial of a Number: Here, we are going to learn how to find factorial of a given number in Scala programming language?
Submitted by Shivang Yadav, on April 21, 2020 [Last updated : March 09, 2023]

Scala – Find the Factorial of a Number

Factorial

Factorial of a number(n!) is the product of all positive numbers less than or equal to that number.

The formula for factorial of a number is,

    n! = n * (n-1) * (n-2) * ... * 2 * 1
    n! = 1 if n = 1 or 0

Based on the above formula we can generate a recursive formula,

    n! = n * (n-1)!

Given a number, we have to find its factorial.

Example

    Input: 
    n = 6

    Output: 
    n! = 720 

    Explanation:
    6! = 6*5*4*3*2*1 = 720

The program will use this formula to find the factorial. As find factorial is a repetitive process. We have two methods to solve this problem,

Using iteration
Using recursion

1) Using Recursive Approach

In recursion, we will call the same method multiple times until a condition is not satisfied.

Here, we will call the function factorial(n) in the following way:

Scala code to find factorial using recursive approach

object myObject {

    def factorialRec(n: Int): Int ={
        if(n <= 1)
            return 1
        return n * factorialRec(n-1)
    }
    
    def main(args: Array[String]) {
        val n = 6
        println("The factorial of " + n + " is " + factorialRec(n))
    }
}

Output

The factorial of 6 is 720

2) Using Iterative Approach

In iteration, we will loop over a sequence of numbers and multiply the number to result variable to find factorial.

Scala code to find factorial using iterative approach

object myObject {
    def factorialIt(n: Int): Int ={
       var factorial = 1
       for(i <- 1 to n)
            factorial *= i
        return factorial
    }
    
    def main(args: Array[String]) {
        val n = 6
        println("The factorial of " + n + " is " + factorialIt(n))
        
    }
}

Output

The factorial of 6 is 720