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c++recursionfibonacci

Why is my Recursive Fibonacci implementation written in C++ segfaulting?


I'm having a hard time understanding why

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int fib(int x) {
    if (x == 1) {
        return 1;
    } else {
        return fib(x-1)+fib(x-2);
    }
}

int main() {
    cout << fib(5) << endl;
}

results in a segmentation fault. Once x gets down to 1 shouldn't it eventually return?


Solution

  • When x==2 you call fib(1) and fib(0):

    return fib(2-1)+fib(2-2);
    

    Consider what will happen when fib(0) is evaluated...