as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.
system
explain what a recursive function is in 50 words or less.
user
a recursive function is a function that calls itself during execution, using its return value in the same call. this process repeats until the return value meets a given criteria at which point, the recursive loop ends. a recursive function can be used to simplify complex problems, resulting in shorter and more concise code.
assistant