simple-statistics/src/factorial.js

Simple Statistics

/**
 * A [Factorial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factorial), usually written n!, is the product of all positive
 * integers less than or equal to n. Often factorial is implemented
 * recursively, but this iterative approach is significantly faster
 * and simpler.
 *
 * @param {number} n input, must be an integer number 1 or greater
 * @returns {number} factorial: n!
 * @throws {Error} if n is less than 0 or not an integer
 * @example
 * factorial(5); // => 120
 */
function factorial(n) {
    // factorial is mathematically undefined for negative numbers
    if (n < 0) {
        throw new Error("factorial requires a non-negative value");
    }

    if (Math.floor(n) !== n) {
        throw new Error("factorial requires an integer input");
    }

    // typically you'll expand the factorial function going down, like
    // 5! = 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1. This is going in the opposite direction,
    // counting from 2 up to the number in question, and since anything
    // multiplied by 1 is itself, the loop only needs to start at 2.
    let accumulator = 1;
    for (let i = 2; i <= n; i++) {
        // for each number up to and including the number `n`, multiply
        // the accumulator my that number.
        accumulator *= i;
    }
    return accumulator;
}

export default factorial;