C++ combination function always resulting 0 - c++

Question

can anybody tell me why my Combination function is always resulting 0 ?
I also tried to make it calculate the combination without the use of the permutation function but the factorial and still the result is 0;
#include <iostream>
#include <cmath>
using namespace std;
int factorial(int& n)
{
if (n <= 1)
{
return 1;
}
else
{
n = n-1;
return (n+1) * factorial(n);
}
}
int permutation(int& a, int& b)
{
int x = a-b;
return factorial(a) / factorial(x);
}
int Combination(int& a, int& b)
{
return permutation(a,b) / factorial(b);
}
int main()
{
int f, s;
cin >> f >> s;
cout << permutation(f,s) << endl;
cout << Combination(f,s);
return 0;
}

Answer 1

Your immediate problem is that that you pass a modifiable reference to your function. This means that you have Undefined Behaviour here:
return (n+1) * factorial(n);
// ^^^ ^^^
because factorial(n) modifies n, and is indeterminately sequenced with (n+1). A similar problem exists in Combination(), where b is modified twice in the same expression:
return permutation(a,b) / factorial(b);
// ^^^ ^^^
You will get correct results if you pass n, a and b by value, like this:
int factorial(int n)
Now, factorial() gets its own copy of n, and doesn't affect the n+1 you're multiplying it with.
While we're here, I should point out some other flaws in the code.
Avoid using namespace std; - it has traps for the unwary (and even for the wary!).
You can write factorial() without modifying n once you pass by value (rather than by reference):
int factorial(const int n)
{
if (n <= 1) {
return 1;
} else {
return n * factorial(n-1);
}
}
Consider using iterative code to compute factorial.
We should probably be using unsigned int, since the operations are meaningless for negative numbers. You might consider unsigned long or unsigned long long for greater range.
Computing one factorial and dividing by another is not only inefficient, it also risks unnecessary overflow (when a is as low as 13, with 32-bit int). Instead, we can multiply just down to the other number:
unsigned int permutation(const unsigned int a, const unsigned int b)
{
if (a < b) return 0;
unsigned int permutations = 1;
for (unsigned int i = a; i > a-b; --i) {
permutations *= i;
}
return permutations;
}
This works with much higher a, when b is small.
We didn't need the <cmath> header for anything.
Suggested fixed code:
unsigned int factorial(const unsigned int n)
{
unsigned int result = 1;
for (unsigned int i = 2; i <= n; ++i) {
result *= i;
}
return result;
}
unsigned int permutation(const unsigned int a, const unsigned int b)
{
if (a < b) return 0;
unsigned int result = 1;
for (unsigned int i = a; i > a-b; --i) {
result *= i;
}
return result;
}
unsigned int combination(const unsigned int a, const unsigned int b)
{
// C(a, b) == C(a, a - b), but it's faster to compute with small b
if (b > a - b) {
return combination(a, a - b);
}
return permutation(a,b) / factorial(b);
}

Answer 2

You dont calculate with the pointer value you calculate withe the pointer address.