Summary

This PR improves the existingFactorial implementation in thedivideandconquer package by replacing the recursive algorithm with an optimized iterative version. The new implementation reduces space complexity, avoids recursion overhead, and prevents stack overflow for moderately large inputs.

In addition, this PR adds a comprehensive JUnit test suite to validate correctness, edge cases, performance behavior, and relative improvement compared to the original recursive approach.

✔ Algorithm Improvements

• Replaced recursive factorial implementation with iterative approach
• Eliminated O(n) recursive stack usage → now O(1) space complexity
• Improved execution time by removing recursion overhead
• Fully maintains expected mathematical behavior for all valid inputs
• Safer for moderately large values (e.g., 15!, 20!) compared to recursion

✔ Test Suite Added (FactorialTest.java)

The added JUnit test suite covers:

1. Basic Correctness

• factorial(5) → 120
• factorial(0) → 1
• Negative inputs throwIllegalArgumentException

2. Performance & Analysis

• Benchmarks factorial(15)
• Validates timing constraints and expected performance characteristics

3. Demonstrating Algorithmic Improvement

• Contains a local copy of the original recursive method for comparison
• Shows iterative version is faster in practice
• Confirms iterative algorithm handles larger inputs safely without stack overflow

Why This PR Is Valuable

• Improves algorithmic quality and safety
• Adds missing test coverage for educational clarity
• Matches project philosophy of readable, practical algorithm implementations
• Clean, minimal changes limited to relevant files only
• Helps future learners compare recursion vs iteration in factorial computation

Thank you for reviewing this contribution!