Factorial Algorithms in different languages

Answer 1

Java 1.6: recursive, memoized (for subsequent calls)

private static Map _results = new HashMap()

public static BigInteger factorial(BigInteger n){
    if (0 >= n.compareTo(BigInteger.ONE))
       return BigInteger.ONE.max(n);
    if (_results.containsKey(n))
       return _results.get(n);
    BigInteger result = factorial(n.subtract(BigInteger.ONE)).multiply(n);
    _results.put(n, result);
    return result;
}