What is the fastest factorial function in JavaScript?

I still think Margus's answer is the best one. However if you want to calculate the factorials of numbers within the range 0 to 1 (ie the gamma function) as well, then you cannot use that approach because the lookup table will have to contain infinite values.

However, you can approximate the values of the factorials, and it's pretty fast, faster than recursively calling itself or looping it at least (especially when values start to get bigger).

A good approximation method is Lanczos's one

Here is an implementation in JavaScript (ported from a calculator I wrote months ago):

function factorial(op) {
 // Lanczos Approximation of the Gamma Function
 // As described in Numerical Recipes in C (2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 1992)
 var z = op + 1;
 var p = [1.000000000190015, 76.18009172947146, -86.50532032941677, 24.01409824083091, -1.231739572450155, 1.208650973866179E-3, -5.395239384953E-6];

 var d1 = Math.sqrt(2 * Math.PI) / z;
 var d2 = p[0];

 for (var i = 1; i <= 6; ++i)
  d2 += p[i] / (z + i);

 var d3 = Math.pow((z + 5.5), (z + 0.5));
 var d4 = Math.exp(-(z + 5.5));

 d = d1 * d2 * d3 * d4;

 return d;
}

You can now do cool stuff like factorial(0.41), etc however accuracy might be a little off, after all, it is an approximation of the result.

You should use a loop.

Here are two versions benchmarked by calculating the factorial of 100 for 10.000 times.

Recursive

function rFact(num)
{
    if (num === 0)
      { return 1; }
    else
      { return num * rFact( num - 1 ); }
}

Iterative

function sFact(num)
{
    var rval=1;
    for (var i = 2; i <= num; i++)
        rval = rval * i;
    return rval;
}

Live at : http://jsfiddle.net/xMpTv/

My results show:
- Recursive ~ 150 milliseconds
- Iterative ~ 5 milliseconds..

You can search for (1...100)! on Wolfram|Alpha to pre-calculate the factorial sequence.

The first 100 numbers are:

1, 2, 6, 24, 120, 720, 5040, 40320, 362880, 3628800, 39916800, 479001600, 6227020800, 87178291200, 1307674368000, 20922789888000, 355687428096000, 6402373705728000, 121645100408832000, 2432902008176640000, 51090942171709440000, 1124000727777607680000, 25852016738884976640000, 620448401733239439360000, 15511210043330985984000000, 403291461126605635584000000, 10888869450418352160768000000, 304888344611713860501504000000, 8841761993739701954543616000000, 265252859812191058636308480000000, 8222838654177922817725562880000000, 263130836933693530167218012160000000, 8683317618811886495518194401280000000, 295232799039604140847618609643520000000, 10333147966386144929666651337523200000000, 371993326789901217467999448150835200000000, 13763753091226345046315979581580902400000000, 523022617466601111760007224100074291200000000, 20397882081197443358640281739902897356800000000, 815915283247897734345611269596115894272000000000, 33452526613163807108170062053440751665152000000000, 1405006117752879898543142606244511569936384000000000, 60415263063373835637355132068513997507264512000000000, 2658271574788448768043625811014615890319638528000000000, 119622220865480194561963161495657715064383733760000000000, 5502622159812088949850305428800254892961651752960000000000, 258623241511168180642964355153611979969197632389120000000000, 12413915592536072670862289047373375038521486354677760000000000, 608281864034267560872252163321295376887552831379210240000000000, 30414093201713378043612608166064768844377641568960512000000000000, 1551118753287382280224243016469303211063259720016986112000000000000, 80658175170943878571660636856403766975289505440883277824000000000000, 4274883284060025564298013753389399649690343788366813724672000000000000, 230843697339241380472092742683027581083278564571807941132288000000000000, 12696403353658275925965100847566516959580321051449436762275840000000000000, 710998587804863451854045647463724949736497978881168458687447040000000000000, 40526919504877216755680601905432322134980384796226602145184481280000000000000, 2350561331282878571829474910515074683828862318181142924420699914240000000000000, 138683118545689835737939019720389406345902876772687432540821294940160000000000000, 8320987112741390144276341183223364380754172606361245952449277696409600000000000000, 507580213877224798800856812176625227226004528988036003099405939480985600000000000000, 31469973260387937525653122354950764088012280797258232192163168247821107200000000000000, 1982608315404440064116146708361898137544773690227268628106279599612729753600000000000000, 126886932185884164103433389335161480802865516174545192198801894375214704230400000000000000, 8247650592082470666723170306785496252186258551345437492922123134388955774976000000000000000, 544344939077443064003729240247842752644293064388798874532860126869671081148416000000000000000, 36471110918188685288249859096605464427167635314049524593701628500267962436943872000000000000000, 2480035542436830599600990418569171581047399201355367672371710738018221445712183296000000000000000, 171122452428141311372468338881272839092270544893520369393648040923257279754140647424000000000000000, 11978571669969891796072783721689098736458938142546425857555362864628009582789845319680000000000000000, 850478588567862317521167644239926010288584608120796235886430763388588680378079017697280000000000000000, 61234458376886086861524070385274672740778091784697328983823014963978384987221689274204160000000000000000, 4470115461512684340891257138125051110076800700282905015819080092370422104067183317016903680000000000000000, 330788544151938641225953028221253782145683251820934971170611926835411235700971565459250872320000000000000000, 24809140811395398091946477116594033660926243886570122837795894512655842677572867409443815424000000000000000000, 1885494701666050254987932260861146558230394535379329335672487982961844043495537923117729972224000000000000000000, 145183092028285869634070784086308284983740379224208358846781574688061991349156420080065207861248000000000000000000, 11324281178206297831457521158732046228731749579488251990048962825668835325234200766245086213177344000000000000000000, 894618213078297528685144171539831652069808216779571907213868063227837990693501860533361810841010176000000000000000000, 71569457046263802294811533723186532165584657342365752577109445058227039255480148842668944867280814080000000000000000000, 5797126020747367985879734231578109105412357244731625958745865049716390179693892056256184534249745940480000000000000000000, 475364333701284174842138206989404946643813294067993328617160934076743994734899148613007131808479167119360000000000000000000, 39455239697206586511897471180120610571436503407643446275224357528369751562996629334879591940103770870906880000000000000000000, 3314240134565353266999387579130131288000666286242049487118846032383059131291716864129885722968716753156177920000000000000000000, 281710411438055027694947944226061159480056634330574206405101912752560026159795933451040286452340924018275123200000000000000000000, 24227095383672732381765523203441259715284870552429381750838764496720162249742450276789464634901319465571660595200000000000000000000, 2107757298379527717213600518699389595229783738061356212322972511214654115727593174080683423236414793504734471782400000000000000000000, 185482642257398439114796845645546284380220968949399346684421580986889562184028199319100141244804501828416633516851200000000000000000000, 16507955160908461081216919262453619309839666236496541854913520707833171034378509739399912570787600662729080382999756800000000000000000000, 1485715964481761497309522733620825737885569961284688766942216863704985393094065876545992131370884059645617234469978112000000000000000000000, 135200152767840296255166568759495142147586866476906677791741734597153670771559994765685283954750449427751168336768008192000000000000000000000, 12438414054641307255475324325873553077577991715875414356840239582938137710983519518443046123837041347353107486982656753664000000000000000000000, 1156772507081641574759205162306240436214753229576413535186142281213246807121467315215203289516844845303838996289387078090752000000000000000000000, 108736615665674308027365285256786601004186803580182872307497374434045199869417927630229109214583415458560865651202385340530688000000000000000000000, 10329978488239059262599702099394727095397746340117372869212250571234293987594703124871765375385424468563282236864226607350415360000000000000000000000, 991677934870949689209571401541893801158183648651267795444376054838492222809091499987689476037000748982075094738965754305639874560000000000000000000000, 96192759682482119853328425949563698712343813919172976158104477319333745612481875498805879175589072651261284189679678167647067832320000000000000000000000, 9426890448883247745626185743057242473809693764078951663494238777294707070023223798882976159207729119823605850588608460429412647567360000000000000000000000, 933262154439441526816992388562667004907159682643816214685929638952175999932299156089414639761565182862536979208272237582511852109168640000000000000000000000, 93326215443944152681699238856266700490715968264381621468592963895217599993229915608941463976156518286253697920827223758251185210916864000000000000000000000000

If you still want to calculate the values yourself, you can use memoization:

var f = [];
function factorial (n) {
  if (n == 0 || n == 1)
    return 1;
  if (f[n] > 0)
    return f[n];
  return f[n] = factorial(n-1) * n;
}

Edit: 21.08.2014

Solution 2

I thought it would be useful to add a working example of lazy iterative factorial function that uses big numbers to get exact result with memoization and cache as comparison

var f = [new BigNumber("1"), new BigNumber("1")];
var i = 2;
function factorial(n)
{
  if (typeof f[n] != 'undefined')
    return f[n];
  var result = f[i-1];
  for (; i <= n; i++)
      f[i] = result = result.multiply(i.toString());
  return result;
}
var cache = 100;
// Due to memoization, following line will cache first 100 elements.
factorial(cache);

I assume you would use some kind of closure to limit variable name visibility.

Ref: BigNumber Sandbox: JsFiddle