The McCarthy 91 function is a recursive function, defined by the computer scientist John McCarthy as a test case for formal verification within computer science.
The McCarthy 91 function is defined for integer n as:
Remarkably, the function yields for all (hence, the function name).
A more generalized form of the McCarthy's recursive function is defined below:
For positive integers a, b, c, k, and n.
The expression , means applying the function G, k number of times:
This means that the 'original' McCarthy-91 function is actually , with , , and .
Given integers, a, b, c, k, and n, evaluate the value of .
--------------------
NOTE: The McCarthy-91 function was created to test recursive function implementations. In this problem, while iterative loops are allowed, use of recursion is encouraged.
Solve

Solution Stats

6 Solutions

4 Solvers

Last Solution submitted on Jun 03, 2026

Last 200 Solutions

Solution Comments

Show comments

Problem Recent Solvers4

William Chris Cleveland Ramon Villamangca Pratik

Suggested Problems

More from this Author116

Problem Tags

Community Treasure Hunt

Find the treasures in MATLAB Central and discover how the community can help you!

Start Hunting!